The Girl Behind The Pictures
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Because of Jace's parents, his life was a lot more open to the public than others. Maybe that was how he had found himself falling for a girl that he had never met, and had only been exchanging pictures with. Clace.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys! So I'm back with a new story! I am going on a bit of a hiatus after I post this, but I'll be back with a regular updating schedule next year!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story._

Becoming friends with 'Clary' had been a complete accident.

A case of mistaken identity, really.

She had sat in Jace Herondale's 'Added Me' section of his snapchat account for nearly two weeks before he had accepted her request. He hadn't recognized her name and had just assumed that she was someone who had managed to get his private snapchat account, and his first instinct had been to block her. Not many people got his snapchat name, even less people than who got his phone number, and so he had been a little curious about who it might be.

Jace watched the story that she had posted on her snapchat with suspicion, looking for any sign that he might recognize who she was. He tried to figure out if she was a socialite, or some girl from a bunch of B-grade movies, but he honestly couldn't place her. There weren't any snaps sent to him with suggestive comments typed underneath or pushy questions that he would usually expect.

She was a green eyed, red-haired, wide smiled girl who looked as though she was completely loving life without a care in the world.

So, in other words, no one that he knew.

Jace had tentatively added her, but hadn't sent her any direct snapchats, and she hadn't sent him any either. But he watched her snapchat stories more than he would care to admit, and it took him a while before he plucked up the courage to send her a message, asking who she was and why she had added him. It was then discovered that she had actually meant to become friends with someone else who's user ID was similar to Jace's, apparently one of her cousins. She had apologized and then it seemed as though they weren't going to talk anymore and Jace had a momentary freak out that she might delete him.

It shouldn't matter, at this point he hadn't even known her name, but he had spent two weeks watching her snap stories and he was kind of addicted. He didn't want her to delete him and no longer see her smiling face throughout the day, or the pictures that she sent of her cat, or there were a couple of an amazing view of what appeared to be a vineyard. They were all such cliché photos, that were littered over so many girls Instagrams and Facebooks and snapchats, but they were all actresses and socialites and people that Jace actively avoided.

Not like her.

None of them seemed like her.

So he had messaged her, and struck up a conversation about her cat, even though he knew absolutely _nothing_ about pretty much any animal, but she had seemed more than willing to talk. He found out her nickname, that she lived in southern California and that she was twenty-three years old. At least, Jace assumed that Clary was a nickname, but then he wasn't judging if it wasn't, he was just glad that she hadn't gone through and deleted him. The messages had all been pretty sporadic at first, not really about all that much, but eventually she started sending him pictures—one's specifically for him and not just left as her snap stories.

They made Jace feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy, which was stupid.

He had girls sending him naked pictures on a regular basis, and yet the girl who was sending him photos of her sticking out her tongue with her best friend, or stuffing her face full of pizza, or making kissy faces at her cat was the one making him grin like an idiot.

"What are you smiling about?" Alec Lightwood grunted. "You never smile."

"No, big brother, I believe that's you," Isabelle Lightwood smirked and pointed a finger at her older brother, waving her finger in front of his face. "Anyway, the reason that he's smiling is all because of his snapchat girl," she sung out with a knowing smirk. "She sent you another picture in her pretty backyard?"

"Is she the one with the vineyard?" Alec tilted his head to the side.

"As if there's any other girl that Jace is talking to," Isabelle snorted.

"I talk to girls!" Jace protested.

"Your mum and Isabelle don't count," Alec replied with a smirk.

"Shut up," Jace pulled the fingers at him and looked back down at his food. Isabelle laughed and then started talking about a fashion show that she was going to be starring in the following night, while Jace sent messages back to Clary. One of the good things about snapchat was that there wasn't really a trail, and you could tell when someone was downloading your picture with a screenshot. He was sure that there were other ways to download the pictures or save the messages without people knowing, but it didn't seem as though Clary did that, because every now and then she would screenshot one of his pictures and he would get the notification. It took a while before he actually sent her pictures, rather than just sending a message, and even now when he was taking photos, he barely ever took photos of himself, or where his face was fully in the light.

"Oi!" Isabelle poked his knee under the table. "Are you listening?"

"Sorry," Jace put his phone down on the table and looked over at his dark haired friend. "What did you say?"

"I _said_ ," Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Are you coming to my show tomorrow night?" Jace pursed his lips together and jerked his head in a tense nod. "Yay!" Isabelle clapped her hands together. "I'll get you front row seats, next to Magnus."

"Uh, Izzy..." Jace gave her a pained look. "I'm totally fine with one of the back seats."

"You're my best friend," Isabelle pouted. "I want you in the front seat." Jace sighed, thinking about all the photographers and paparazzi that were going to be at the fashion show tomorrow, but nodded again, mainly because he found it extremely hard to say 'no' to Isabelle when she was doing that thing with her lower lip. "Sweet," she smirked. "So you'll be in one of the front rows between Magnus and probably Elizabeth Banks." Elizabeth Banks...Jace recognized the name. He knew that she was an actor, Isabelle went on about her quite a bit, so it made sense that Isabelle was making sure she had a good seat at the show.

"Whatever, okay," he waved his hand in resignation at her as he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest. There were a couple of people a few tables over from them that kept looking at them, and Jace instinctively tipped his face forward, letting his hair fall in front of his face. The big, dark Aviators that he was wearing covered his face well, and usually he had it paired with a baseball cap or a Fedora. But they were sitting at the back of the cafe, and he had his back facing the doorway so most people couldn't see his face, so he had thought that he would be okay without it.

Of course, sitting at a table with one of the most popular supermodels of the year and an up and coming director who had already won his first big award wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Especially when Isabelle had no qualms about taking photos with her fans or signing autographs, although usually she kept a low profile when she was out with him.

Because Jace hated the spotlight.

Being the son of two Oscar award winning people was someone who was followed around almost constantly by cameras and prying eyes since the day they were born. He'd always had a love-hate relationship with them while he was younger, but he sort of just learnt to ignore them and move on with his life. He won a bunch of awards as a young actor, and was in multiple TV shows and movies, and he hung out with all the right people. As a teenager, he had dated several actresses, and there had been a couple of the typical scandals of public drunkeness and being spotted with a joint. But then Kaelie Whitewillow had happened, and that had all gone to hell.

Ever since then, he had avoided the cameras like the plague.

Jace's phone pinged again and he saw it was another snapchat. He opened it up, pressing his thumb to be scanned and unlock the phone, and then opened up the snapchat. It was a close up of Clary, a pair of shades on her hair, her red hair falling around her face, and she was making a face at the camera—her eyes cross eyed. Jace snorted and shook his head.

"Are you ever planning on meeting this girl?" Alec asked, his voice low. "I mean, you message her all the time, you smile like a fucking idiot every time you get another one of those photos from her—it would make sense that you finally meet her."

"I'm not just going to fly out to California to meet with this girl. I don't even know what she does for a living, or what her last name is!"

"You don't know what her last name is?" Isabelle scrunched up her nose. "What the fuck? You talk to her every day and you haven't asked her what her last name is?" Jace shrugged his shoulders and looked back down at his phone, swiping left and typing out a message in response ' _the cross eyed look is attractive on you_ ' and sending it off to her. He got another photo back quickly, this one even closer to her eyes, so close that he could see the flecks of lighter green in her eyes, and how long her eyelashes were.

"We talk about other things," Jace shrugged.

"What? Like shared life experiences?" Alec snorted and got another glare from Jace.

"I think Alec is right," Isabelle had her phone on selfie mode and was reapplying her lipstick, which had worn over as they had eaten brunch. "It's not like you've got anything better to do— _after_ you come to my show of course. Just take the jet. I mean, if you meet her and it all goes to shit, then you can just stay at the Malibu house for a little bit, you've been talking about going out there and getting some sun."

"I'll think about it," Jace muttered, pocketing his phone and getting up from the table. They were getting more looks now, and he picked up the baseball cap from where he had dropped it on the table top and put it on, pulling the brim down. He pulled out his wallet and put a few notes on the table to cover his share of the bill. "Anyway, I'm heading off. Send me the details of the event, and I'll have mum's stylist sort out my suit. Great," he sighed. "And then the stylist is going to tell mum that I'm getting a suit and she's going to think that she can hold that as leverage to drag me to some publicity event."

"You could always ask Magnus," Alec suggested.

"On second thoughts, yes," Jace nodded with a raise of his eyebrow. "That's a good idea." He turned to leave when Isabelle called out to him again.

"You know what else is a good idea?!" He looked back over his shoulder at Isabelle, who was wiggling her eyebrows. "Going out to meet that girl!"

 _Alright! So, my recommendations this time...Songwise, the ones I've had on repeat are;_ Somebody New _, by Cedric Gervais. Fucking loooove it, my husband hates it, but I play it loud as hell when I'm the only one in the car. Haha._ First Time _by Kygo and Ellie Goulding, this one is cute and sweet, makes me think back to being a teenager. Then there's_ Easy _by Sky Ferreira, which is just beautiful, from the movie_ Baby Driver _, and the last one is_ Too Much To Ask _by Niall Horan, which is just so pretty._

 _Movie wise, I've recently seen_ Kingsmen 2 _, which was fucking great, although my favourite character...*quietly sobs in corner*. Also_ It _, which was great as well, the kids were all so fucking brilliant in that movie, and I have to admit, I ship Reddie. I think they're absolutely adorable. Bill Skarsgard did an amazing job. And then tomorrow, I'll be seeing_ Thor: Ragnorok _! It looks amazing, so fingers crossed._

 _And then in the TV show area, I've just started watching_ The Gifted _, which is pretty good so far. Also binged the second season of_ Shooter _, which I've really enjoyed, and I hope that there's more! Another one is_ Wynonna Earp, _which took me a while to get into, but I love it now. Wynonna and Waverly are just fucking amazing. And then there's just the general shows that I've been keeping up with, like_ How To Get Away With Murder, Gotham _and_ NCIS: Los Angeles _, all of which are great._

 _So! Let me know what you guys think of the chapter, let me know if you guys have any prompts or songs you want me to write about (any of the fandoms I'm in, check my profile, and keep in mind I will try to write them, but can't guarantee all of them) and absolutely recommend any songs, movies, tv shows or fics to me!_

 _There's a preview of the next chapter for a review... xxx_


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm back! We're 2018! It does_ not _feel like it at all. Haha. It still feels like 2017. Anyway, I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years, fun but safe (even though that make me sounds like a mum). Mine started well and then I had a bit of an accident which is taking a while to recover from, but we'll get there. And I hope that the first month of 2018 has been great! I've got a few concerts coming up which I'm psyched about—Ed Sheeran, Pink and Halsey, so that's awesome._

 _Now, my official updating schedule is kicking off from February, this update is just to get all my stories updated and get my oneshots posted. Check out my profile for the schedule. There are a variety of oneshots posted in quite a few categories, so make sure you check them out, along with my profile for the updating schedule going forward!_

Jace let out a groan as he rolled over in his bed and squinted at the clock on the side of the bedside table. It read that it was just after one in the afternoon, so he had officially slept almost twelve hours.

 _Again._

He was meeting his mother for dinner, but until then he was planning on hitting the private gym on the lower floor of his gorgeous apartment building and then coming back to his room and watching trashy TV. It was pretty standard for him to not even leave the building unless he was being forced out by one of his parents or Isabelle or Alec; it wasn't as though he had anywhere to be or anything to do. Most of his days were spent exactly like this; bouncing between the gym, watching TV or hiding out at one of the popular restaurants in town that he owned.

Jace leaned down to where his phone was plugged in, and swiped his thumb over the screen, seeing that he had two snapchats from Clary. That stupid grin on his face was back as he opened the application. They had been sent early that morning—New York was three hours ahead of California, so the first would have been sent at one and the second would have been three in the morning her time.

The first one was a snap of Clary with a blonde, who featured in a lot of her photos. She always referred to her as _Lyds_ when they messaged or when she captioned a photo. They were clearly going out, both girls wearing make up and what looked like party dresses. The second was a video, rather than a photo. It wasn't very often that Clary sent a video, and Jace always felt even more excited about seeing one, even though it was rarely ever of herself. This video, however, was almost exclusively of Clary, and had been taken by someone else who was laughing behind the camera. It was a murky video, there was lots of yelling and laughing and it sounded like music was playing really loudly.

" _Someone's finally getting her ins_!" Came a giggle from the person who was filming. Jace had just enough time to squint to where Clary was straddling some guy on a couch, the pair of them making out, before the snap expired. His thumb hovered over the button, wondering if he should replay it, but then instantly deciding against it.

There was a weird twist in the pit of his stomach.

He really had no right to feel that flare of jealousy because he and Clary were nowhere near a thing. Like he had told Isabelle the other day—he didn't even know her last name! It wasn't as though they had met on Tinder or Badoo and the intention behind the pictures and messages that they were sending were because they wanted to get together and hook up. It had all been a mix up, and now they were just sort of friends who sent photos to each other and spoke every day.

Jace sent a photo back, just of the room, so the end of his bed and the TV which was still turned off, and typed out a message ' _Have a good night last night?_ ' He put his phone back down and hauled his ass out of bed, walking into the en suite and turning on the shower and waiting for the water to heat up. He pulled out a couple of towels from the cupboards beside the sink and hung them over the heating rail. Jace took off his briefs and threw them toward the washing basket in the corner of the room, where housekeeping would come and pick them up that afternoon.

He should really just get straight in the shower, but he couldn't help but go back into his room and check his phone. His heart skipped a beat when the message ' _Clary is typing..._ ' had popped up on his screen. The shower was warmed up and there was steam beginning to gather in the expensive bathroom, but he ignored it as he waited for Clary's message to come through. Finally it did and he clicked on it.

 _OMG. Lyds sent that video to eeeeveryone. I'm just glad she didn't post it as my story because I'm friends with my mum on here._

Jace snorted, even though he still felt a little strange, and typed back.

 _It seemed like a classy act, your mum would have been proud._

He tried to tell himself that he was going to go and shower and he would look at her response when he got back, but there wasn't much point in that, because he was just lying to himself.

 _I've walked in on my mum getting it on with my dad more times that I can count. I've seriously considered washing my eyes out with soap on a couple of occasions. She really wouldn't be the one to judge._

This time Jace took a photo, selecting the selfie option and holding the phone in front of him. The room was still dark, since he hadn't opened the curtains or turned on any lights, so the photo was pretty murky, although the sympathizing face he made could still be made by the downturn of his mouth. He added a couple of emoji's which he hoped portrayed that he felt sorry for her, and then finally put his phone down and walked into the shower.

One of the phrases that Jace hated the most because it was used to often to describe him when he was written about in the tabloids was 'poor little rich boy'. That was definitely one of the least abrasive things that were written—given over the past few years he got called a recluse and a hermit and a shut in and before then he had been called a man whore and a player and a drug addict—but there was something about 'poor little rich boy' that struck something inside of him.

Maybe because it felt as though there was some truth behind it.

The 'rich boy' part was most definitely true. He had more money at his fingertips than he could ever spend.

The first part...Being rich wasn't easy. Or, it _could_ be easy, if you didn't mind having your whole life plastered over the news and hounded for the reason behind every single decision you've ever made. But when you made an enemy of the media and one of their sweethearts had stepped forward with a heartbreaking story about how he had screwed her over and seduced her into a life of drugs and sex, it was pretty much downhill from there. And that's where the 'poor little' part came into it, how people felt pity for him, they _felt_ sorry for him.

That was over four years ago, and now the only photos that were published of him were ones that the paparazzi had to work _very_ hard to get. He never went out without sunglasses and a hat, and when he went to events with his parents, he tried to keep his face hidden and stay to the edges of the crowds rather than at the front. Shows that he went to for Isabelle were the only time they ever really got a proper photo of him, and in most of those cases, there were always bigger names at the events than the reclusive son of two Oscar winners. Even when it came to premiere's for Alec, Alec had no problem with him taking the back entrance in and hiding away in dark corners. He didn't care if no one knew Jace was there, it just meant a lot that his cousin was there to support him.

Like Alec had said as though part of a joke yesterday, it was hard to find someone with shared life experience. Isabelle and Alec didn't count, because they were more like immediate family than his own parents. But other people...He never really made friends when he was younger, or at least, he had the people he filmed with, and there were the children of his parents celebrity friends, and there were the hot girls who hung around and the boys that he went out and got drunk with, but there weren't any _real_ friends.

After everything happened with Kaelie, his mother had shipped him off to rehab, which was more of a glorified retreat for the stars, in Italy. He had stayed there for six months, and had then spent another few months at one of his fathers holiday homes in Greece, then doing some other travelling before coming back to New York and pretty much becoming part of the furniture in the penthouse apartment of a building that his mother owned.

It was lonely to the point where he had made friends with pretty much all of the maid staff and the workers down in the all the night kitchen. But even then, it wasn't as though he could really talk to them about anything. He didn't speak with his parents very often—hadn't got on with his father in a long time and his mother was hardly ever in the country. Alec and Isabelle were busy with their own lives, and even though they were always there for him when he needed it, they couldn't help it if their jobs took up most of their time. And Jace didn't trust anyone else, it just came with territory.

Usually he took showers that could last up til half an hour, given he didn't have anywhere he needed to be or anything he needed to do. But this time he was out within ten minutes, anxious to check his phone.

There was a new message from Clary, and two new photos. The first photo was out one of the windows for her house, he had become very accustomed to those photos, and frankly, he was completely jealous. She lived on the vineyard that her parents owned, and most of the photos she sent him of were all blue skies and bright sun and gorgeous leafy vines as far as the eye could see. The second photo was another one of the vineyard, but this time it looked as though it was taken on a deck, and he could see her long legs in the photo, so it looked like she was sun bathing. Then he swiped for the message. _Seriously love this view,_ it read, obviously referencing the two photos.

Jace paused before responding to her message. There were a couple of things that he wanted to say in response to that, maybe make a bit of an insinuation about the view he was getting of her legs.

 _I'm jealous_ , is what he settled for. He got a picture back almost instantly. She was sticking her tongue out at him, big sunglasses covering half her face. The sun was bright a few shadows falling in front of her face, and her hair was piled on top of her head.

 _You'll need to come out and visit. You'll never want to leave._

"Ain't that the truth," Jace sighed as he dropped his phone to the bed and turned on the TV, switching over to re-runs of _Full House_.

 _Okay! Let me know what you guys thought! Let me know if you liked it, if you didn't, what your favourite part was, etc etc._

 _Alright, now I've got so many song and movie recommendations given the gap in updating, so I'll limit it down. Movie wise,_ The Last Jedi _and_ The Greatest Showman _are both absolutely incredibly. Especially_ TGS _. Holy shit, the songs and the costumes and the dances, they were all amazing. I don't even know what my favourite songs from it is..._ This Is Me, Rewrite The Stars, Never Enough, From Now On _...I just don't know! And TV series recommendations would be_ The Gifted, Black Lightning _and_ The Runaways.

 _Songwise,_ I'm Gonna Show You Crazy _by Bebe Rexha,_ Him and I _by Halsey and G-Eazy,_ Missing You _by Blake McGrath,_ Never Enough _from The Greatest Showman,_ My My My _by Troye Sivan,_ Dynasty _by MIIA and_ Phases _by French Montana._

 _Let me know what your own recommendations are! I note down all your song, TV series and movies suggestions so I can get around to them when I have time!_

 _Make sure you check out my other updates and let me know if you want a preview of the next chapter xx_


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story! Hope you like the update :)_

Isabelle's fashion show went exactly like Jace thought it would. He slipped in late, just a couple of minutes before the show began, and Magnus Bane waved him over to where they were seated. There were photographers everywhere, and Jace tried to keep his face tipped forward, his hair falling in front of it and at least partially obscuring his features, and most of the attention was on the bigger actors and actresses and designers who were there. Magnus did his part as well, standing in front of Jace as much as he could and blocking him from the prying eyes of the press.

Magnus was a stylist who was quickly making his way up the ranks of people who were demanded behind the scenes of photo shoots and movie sets and the occasional fashion show. Alec wasn't able to come to the show, so Jace was glad that he had Alec's boyfriend there for moral support.

"How's it going with your girl? Are you taking videos of all of this for her?" Magnus whispered as the lights all fell dark and music began, thumping from the speakers and the bass practically vibrating their seats.

"No," Jace muttered. "Don't really want her to think that this is my life." He could practically see the incredulous look on Magnus' face in the dark.

"This _is_ your life," Magnus commented quietly before lights started flashing and the fashion show began. Jace glanced at Magnus, who was looking up at the runway as a girl began her walk down, opening the show. Jace had little to no interest in these shows; the outfits were weird, the hair was always big and poofy and the make up was borderline scary. He only came along to these things when Isabelle asked him to, because she was his best friend.

Isabelle looked gorgeous when she came on—her hair was straightened and her eye make up wasn't quite as crazy as everyone elses—and Jace wondered if Magnus had a point. This was his life, and Isabelle was his friend and he was proud of her as she strutted down the runway and did this little hip thrust thing when she reached the end. Jace picked up his phone and zoomed in on Isabelle's face as she began walked back down the runway, in his direction. Just because he was taking a photo and sending it off to Clary, doesn't mean that he needed to showcase the whole model walk thing, he just got a photo of Isabelle's upper half and her fancy make up and her haughty expression. He captioned the photo; _Was_ _dragged along to one of her dress up parties_. It wasn't a too far cry from the truth.

As the show came to a close, Clary still hadn't responded, although she always took a little bit longer throughout the day. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she had a job, like most people, that kept her busy throughout the week. That didn't stop Jace from being disappointed when he looked down at his screen, and his screensaver photo of him and Alec didn't have any alerts announcing new messages or snapchats.

Jace joined the throngs of people heading out of the building when his phone vibrated in his back pocket. He pulled it out quickly, and then put it to his ear when he saw it was Isabelle calling.

"Hey! There's an after party!" She said into the phone. "Wanna come?"

"Uh, Iz..." Jace scrunched up his nose in distaste.

"Look, it's back at one of the models places. There isn't going to be any press or photographers because, well, let's face it, I know at least two of them who are going to be doing the coke and they don't want that ending up all over the news," Isabelle muttered, but someone close by heard because Jace heard some indignant squawks down the other end of the line. "But come on— _please_? It's been a long time since we've gotten drunk together! It's been a long time since you've gotten drunk at all, actually, or at least properly, not by yourself watching reality TV in your apartment."

"Oh, so this has gone from accompanying you to an after party to getting drunk," Jace sounded dubious but Isabelle just ploughed ahead, ignoring him, which was something she did often when she was trying to talk him around to her choice.

"An after party insinuates drinking," she stated. "And Magnus can't come because he's picking up Alec from the airport."

"They could both go with you after?" Jace suggested, even though he knew that it was a stupid idea.

"We both know that when Magnus and Alec haven't seen each other in four days, they're gonna end up back at one of their apartments doing all sorts of things that I don't want to know about," Isabelle replied. "And me and you, we need some Iz and Jace time." Jace sighed, but he could practically hear the pout down the end dof the line as she continued. " _Please? Pretty please_? I promise to hold your hair back when you puke?"

"We all know that if anyone's doing the puking it's you model folk," Jace joked lightly, although was inwardly glad that Isabelle had never been one of those people. "Okay, fine, that sounds...Fun?" It came out as a question, but Isabelle just laughed in response.

"Look, at the very least, we can take lots of pictures to send to your mystery lover," she teased.

"Not my lover," Jace sighed.

"You're talking to her every day by way of love notes and pretty pictures," Isabelle smirked. "However, she's going to start thinking that you're some sort of creep who never leaves his apartment, given that's probably all you send pictures. She might even think that you collect your toenails in jars and make bracelets out of leather and beads."

"If she thought I was like that and is _still_ talking to me, then I think that _I'm_ the one that should be worried," Jace pointed out.

"Whatever. You're coming, that's sorted," Isabelle stated. There was some more noise behind her and some shuffling around. "Ow, fuck—stop it!" She hissed at someone. "Look, I need to go and get out of this dress, it's seriously going to take a whole team of people—I'm literally strapped in. Go home, and I'll come with a car in about an hour." Jace didn't bother replying before he hung up the call. As he was about to put his phone away, there was an alert, and Jace grinned when he saw that a message from Clary had come through while he was on the phone. It was a selfie, Clary's mouth wide open, feigning disbelief, and a message; _She's gorgeous! How are you two not getting it on?_

Jace let out a snort, typing out a response, not bothering with a photo.

 _She's my cousin! And even if she wasn't, she's like my sister, that would be fucking weird._

 _Oh, okay. No, I totally get that. Si is like my brother. A lot of people think we're together when they first see us but, ew, no. I'm pretty sure you can never make out with someone that you ate a dirt pie with when you were four. Or the one who covered for you when you accidentally killed the class pet gerbil. Or who threw up on your feet after eating too much birthday cake when you turned seven._

That was a joke, Jace knew that.

But it just made that pit in his stomach feel even worse.

For as far back as he could remember, it was always proper play dates on fancy playgrounds and no, you can't have a pet, because we're not at home enough to look after it, and the food at childhood birthdays were big chocolate fountains and waiters handing out cucumber sandwiches.

 _Random question...What did you eat at birthday parties when you were younger?_

It was a weird question, although that happened sometimes. He woke up one morning to a picture of Clary, adorably mussed up from sleep and still looking half asleep, asking; _Do you like celery?_ Apparently it was because Lydia was making her breakfast and it consisted of celery and carrot sticks. Jace had just been glad that he had screenshot that picture because she had looked so cute, no make up, sleepy eyes and soft lines on her face.

She took a little bit to reply, he saw the little alert 'Clary is typing' appear three times before he actually got a reply. _Chicken nuggets, so many chicken nuggets. And sausage rolls. OMG—and honey joys! I fucking love honey joys!_

Right.

So normal kids food.

In fact, so normal he didn't even know what the hell honey joys were. He messaged her back; _What's a honey joy?_ He got another message back, this one a video, and it was a horrified look from both Clary and a pretty Chinese girl, and both of them gasped out,

"You've never had a honey joy?!" Jace couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter, and he got a weird look from a couple of people around him. He quickly put away his phone and then kept on walking. He still wasn't one hundred percent certain what her voice sounded like, because most of the videos she sent were when there were other people talking as well, or there was music playing, or they were just silent videos of her filming something other than herself. But he was pretty sure out of the two on the video, her's was the slightly softer, huskier one.

The things he would do to actually hear that voice speaking to him directly, rather than sending him messages was ridiculous.

The way he was feeling about Clary was getting a little crazy, given they had only been messaging for about four months now. Four months might have been normal to start falling for a girl if you were seeing them face to face and going out on proper dates. It was a little bit different when you were still trying to figure out what her voice sounded like, wasn't too sure what she did for a living, and had absolutely no idea what she thought about _him_.

Maybe Isabelle and Alec had a point.

Maybe he should meet her.

Just the thought of it made him feel even more nervous, and yeah, maybe Isabelle was right about something else as well; it had been a long time since he had gotten drunk.

 _Okay._

 _So, I had my movie/TV show/song recommendations all written up, but then Wednesday happened, and I kind of wanted to say something and it didn't seem right to put them in here along with this._

 _So...I'm going to start this with; I don't understand. I can't comprehend. I have absolutely no idea what the people and the families of those involved in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida are going through. I can't even imagine what...What they're feeling or how they're doing._

 _I just...I don't even know how to put what I personally feel into words, and then I think about how shit and selfish that is, because I'm halfway around the world, and yet there are people who were_ there _, people who were_ in that school _, and they've been incredibly brave by doing interviews or getting out there via social media about what they went through, and what_ needs to happen _. I watched an interview with one boy who put it well, "We are children. You guys are the adults. Work together, get over your politics and get something done."_

Yes _._

 _Where I live, the last time we had a mass shooting—which is defined where four or more people selected indiscriminately, not including the perpetrator, are killed—was in 1997. In my life time, there have only been three. From what I understand, there have been_ eight school shootings this year alone _in the US. I just—I can't even understand that._

 _I don't usually put things up about national/international events, but there were kids my baby brothers age...There were_ fourteen year olds who were killed _. How do we live in a world where someone can do that? I was absolutely bawling my eyes out when I was reading the updates and watching the videos that kids had posted and I just...I don't understand._

 _I just wanted to say I'm sorry._

 _To anyone who is directly or indirectly affected._

 _To anyone who lives in the US and this is a constant fear for you._

 _Because that's really all I can say xx_


	4. Chapter 4

_An update! About a week earlier than I planned, but I'm going away this weekend and then quite busy next week, so I thought I would update now! Also, part of the reason I'm busy next week is because it's my birthday! So here's an early birthday present from me to you xx_

Clarissa Fray let out a mumble and a moan as she stretched her arms above her head, pointing her toes and arching her back. It was Sunday morning, and she had nowhere that she needed to be until twelve, when she was being picked up by her friends to go out for brunch. She had gone out with Lydia Branwell and Aline Penhallow last night, just for dinner and a couple of drinks, and had then been home by ten. Lydia had tried to make her stay out with her, get drunk and dance on a couple of table tops, but she had gone out the night before that with Lydia, which had resulted in a hangover and chapped lips.

Lydia had even taken a video of her hooking up with Jordan Kyle, a guy that they had been friends with since high school, and sent it to a bunch of people on her snapchat. It was a no wonder Clary didn't want to go out again.

The sun was streaming through the rickety widow blinds, filling the room with warm, golden light as she stretched once more before sitting up slowly. Her phone was charging on the table beside her bed, blinking with a couple of notifications, but they were probably just some drunk messages from Lydia that could most definitely wait until she had properly woken up before checking. She stumbled into her kitchen, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. The windows in her kitchen were cracked open, and there was a breeze coming through, along with the morning sun, and she took a minute to bask in it before moving over to the jug and filling it with water.

Clary turned on the little stereo in the corner of the kitchen, flicking through her iPod until she came to a song she wanted to listen to, an old Charlie Puth one, and turned the volume up. She was only wearing a tiny pair of sleeping shorts and a loose singlet that she was pretty sure actually belonged to Simon Lewis, and her skin was already heating up as the morning sun's temperature continued to rise. She moved around the kitchen, washing a couple of dishes that were left over from yesterday afternoon, getting out her glass jar with her green tea leaves in it and waiting for the jug to finish boiling.

When her kitchen was tidy and she had a mug of a green tea, she finally went back to her bedroom to grab her phone before going out onto her deck. As usual, every time she went outside and got a proper look at where she lived, she felt a smile spread across her mouth.

She was so lucky.

Clary didn't remember a time when she lived permanently in a city, even though she knew that she had spent her first couple of years in the middle of Los Angeles, when her mother was still married to her biological father. She hadn't seen Valentine Morgenstern in years though, which didn't affect her because she didn't really remember him, and her and Jocelyn Fray had been living on the vineyard with Luke Garroway since she was six. She had left for a couple of years after she had finished high school, moving into California to go to University, but she had returned afterwards, missing the fresh air, the clear blue skies and the rows of grapevines as far as the eye could see. It was a Sunday, so they didn't have any workers out in the vineyard, and there was a still silence, only interrupted by the soft music coming from inside her house, and the sounds of a couple of birds flying overhead.

Clary took in a deep breath through her nose as she sat down on the wooden swing seat that Luke had brought her as a birthday present a couple of years ago. She sipped at her green tea and tapped her finger on the screen of her phone, letting it read her thumb print before it unlocked and she looked at the messages. She was right about a couple of them, they were texts and a snapchats from a very drunk Lydia. But then there were also a couple of pictures from Jace.

The pretty, rich boy Jace.

It was stupid, but she felt a shiver of excitement run through her as she saw his name listed four times on her screen, three photo's sent through snapchat and one a typed message.

He was most definitely pretty. It had taken him a while before he sent her any photos of himself, which she was fine with. She had added him by mistake, her cousin's snapchat name was only different by one letter, and when he had accepted her add and said he didn't recognize her name, she had made a move to delete him. But the photo he had sent her back was the view out the window of a New York apartment building, and she had never been to New York, so she decided to keep him on her friends list. It had been a while before they spoke, and even longer before he sent photos of his face, but when he had, Clary was pretty sure it was lust at first sight.

He was _gorgeous_.

Shaggy blonde hair, what looked like rich, golden-brown eyes, and red lips that looked so soft and she had thought about kissing a hundred times.

Which was frankly stupid, given they had never even met.

And then there was the rich part.

She had absolutely no idea what he did for a living—although she was pretty sure that the answer to that question was _nothing_ —or where he got his money from, although he had mentioned that his family came from money, so she was assuming that he just lived on that. Pretty much any time of day when they were sending pictures, he was in his apartment, sending photos of the view out the window, or whatever he was eating, or watching on TV. Occasionally she got photos of him in the back of a car or with a couple of friends, although she barely ever got their full faces in the photo. Yesterday afternoon he had sent her a dolled up photo of a girl named Isabelle that he talked about quite a bit, and she had felt a stab of jealousy as she got a proper look at the beautiful girl that Jace had spoken about often.

Clary finished half of her green tea before she opened up the pictures that Jace had sent her, at around eleven and twelve her time, which would have been around two or three where he was. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise as she looked at the photos, which were different from the ones he had sent her before. All of them were a little blurred, but she could still make out the pictures.

Clearly, he was drunk, and he was with Isabelle, as well as a couple of other girls. The first photo looked as though it had been taken by Isabelle, and she had an arm around Jace, her face smushed against his side, and there were two other girls on his other side, all of them just as beautiful as Isabelle was and making Clary feel even stupider for thinking that there was possibly something between the two of them. There was another photo, this one was just a candid photo of a bunch of people in a glamorous looking apartment that she knew wasn't Jace's, given she was very used to seeing photos of his place. There were men and woman drinking, a couple smoking, several of them dancing with their hands above their heads. There was a caption on this photo, reading; _Izzy dragged me out for the night_ , along with a string of emoji's.

And then there was the last photo and the message. This one was just of Jace, even blurrier than the rest, this one of his face from below his nose, and his bare torso. His hand was resting low, and she blinked a couple of times as she wondered if his hand was underneath the waistband of his pants.

That sent all kinds of hot sparks down her arms and legs, staring in shock as the little circle in the right corner expired the picture and it disappeared.

She swiped left over his name, where it was indicating that there was a typed message waiting for her, and once again she was surprised by what she read.

 _I wsh i cuold hear yur voice._

And underneath that was his number.

Clary screenshot the message before the screen of her phone went black, and then sat staring at her phone for a long time after that. Jace had never blatantly said it to her, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was a private person. They had talked about some things—things that Clary had only talked about with her closest friends, and she assumed the same of things that Jace had told her. He had mentioned that his parents got a lot of attention and that meant that _he_ got a lot of attention, which he hated, and that was why he spent a lot of time in his apartment.

Obviously, he trusted her, at least enough to tell her bits and pieces of his life and actually send photos of his face, which he didn't seem to do for just anyone. But this phone number was like something else completely, actually having a number to directly call him and hear his voice on the other end of the line...That was crossing an unspoken line between them.

Clary wasn't too sure how long she sat there, wondering if she should call or text him, when a message came in from Lydia, saying that they were fifteen minutes away, and she better be ready, because she was hungover and starving for something deep fried. Her green tea was cold, and she carried the half full cup back into her house, tipping it into the sink and then walking into her room. She dressed quickly, pulling on a dress and a loose cardigan, and brushing her teeth in the bathroom, tugging a brush through her hair just before she heard the crunch of tyres out the front and a horn was tooted an obnoxious amount of times. Clary rolled her eyes as she snatched up her phone and her wallet on the way out, not bothering to lock her door as she closed it behind her.

"Yeah! Move your ass!" Helen Blackthorn called from where she was sitting in the drivers seat of the car, Aline on the passenger side and Lydia in the backseat, with massive sunglasses covering almost half her face.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Clary flashed a grin as she opened the door to the back and slid in next to Lydia, slamming the door shut as she made herself comfortable.

"Shit, could you be any louder?" Lydia grumbled, flinching at the loud noise. Clary let out a laugh and Lydia continued to growl under her breath as Helen started driving back down the long driveway, through the vineyard and toward the road, the tyres kicking up dust and stones in it's wake.

"Always the charmer," Clary teased.

"Don't be a bitch," Lydia muttered. Helen and Aline carried most of the conversation on their way into the township, talking about some movie that they were going to go and see after they finished brunch. Lydia announced that she was going to go straight back to bed once they dropped him off, while Clary was still thinking about Jace's message and the phone number he had given her. "What's the name of the movie?" Lydia grunted as they parked up outside the cafe where they were meeting Simon.

" _City of Heavenly Fire_ ," Aline said as they all opened their doors and got out of Helen's Mini Cooper.

"That's the one with Celine Herondale, right?" Clary asked as they waited for Helen to lock up her car.

"That's it," Aline agreed. "She's a fucking babe. What—I think she's in her late forties, maybe early fifties? And she still looks _absolutely_ amazing."

"Well, that's what money does for you," Clary smirked and Helen nodded in agreement.

"Girls! You made it!" Simon called from where he and Jordan were waiting in front of the cafe.

" _Why_ does everyone insist on screaming this morning?" Lydia snapped as she stalked past her friends, out of the sunny morning and into the shade of the restaurant. There were grins exchanged between the group before they followed Lydia inside, and for the time being, Jace was pushed to the back of Clary's mind.

 _Songwise; I've become completely addicted to Julia Michaels and Camila Cabello. Recent favourites of Julia Michaels are_ Uh-Huh _and_ Worst In Me _, and for Camila Cabello,_ All These Years, Consequences _and_ Somethings Gotta Give _. Especially_ All These Years _! Also there's_ Homeostasis _by Nostalghia, which is an older one. Ooh, and_ White Flag _by Bishop Briggs, which is absolutely amazing, and was sent through by_ Jling _._

 _I'm also still coming down from my Halsey concert high ;) So anything by her is recommended!_

 _So a couple of movies that I've seen over the past month are_ Ready Player One, Love, Simon, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Red Sparrow _and_ Avengers: Infinity War _._ Pacific Rim _was the typical monster versus robot shit, but no one said it was going to be a masterpiece! Haha. It was good for what it was, a depressing lack of Charlie Hunnam though._ Ready Player One _was a lot better than I though it would be, although my hubby and his friends enjoyed it a lot more than I did, given they got a lot more of the references._ Love, Simon _was beautiful and I recommend to all._ Red Sparrow _was okay, a bit long, and because I'm not the biggest fan of Jennifer Lawrence, that was already a bit of a turn off for me._

 _Now._

Avengers: Infinity War.

 _Holy shit._

 _Amazing._

 _Bucky saying 'Steve'? Okoye's side eye! M'Bakku being strong and beautiful! Steve's introduction to Groot? LOKI?! Spidey and Iron Man's last scene? Shuri's little moment? Wanda and Vision! Steve's BEARD?! Daddy AF. Pretty much everything Drax related. Thor's entry into earth?! Bucky and Rocket's interaction?! Probably a hundred thousand more things that I just don't have time to mention! I've already fangirled hard with_ Allieanna _, we're both pretty heartbroken. If you want to fangirl with me, send me a message, I am_ completely _down for that._

 _Let me know what songs you're listening to, if you've seen any of these movies, what you liked about the chapter or what you didn't like and what you think is going to happen next—leave a review, they keep me going :) Let me know if you want a preview as well xx_


	5. Chapter 5

_Happy Pride Month, beautiful people!_

Jace wasn't an early morning person.

He never really had anywhere that he needed to be, given the only type of job he had was a couple of investments into some high end resturants around the city.

Jace especially wasn't an early morning person when he had been out drinking until God knows what hour in the morning. When he cracked open his eyes, his head was pounding, his mouth and throat felt as dry as a dessert and his stomach rolled over. He took in a deep breath, shoving his head back under his pillow and closing his eyes again. He didn't know what time it was, but whatever the hour, it was far too early.

He had almost managed to get back to sleep when suddenly his eyes flashed open again. He let out another groan as a stab of pain seared through his temple, but he ignored it as he reached out for his phone. He hadn't put it on the charger, and he hadn't even managed to put it on the bedside table, it was on the carpet. The movement made him more aware of how he was laying, and what he was wearing. He had on a pair of briefs that felt hardened, and on the floor beside the bed was the shirt that he had been wearing last night. It was crumpled in a ball and he frowned as he reached for it.

"Oh, great," Jace mentally rolled his eyes, refraining from doing it physically because he knew how much it would hurt. So he had been so drunk last night—or this morning, if they're being completely technical—but not drunk enough that he couldn't get hard and obviously jerk off. Then he remembered the original reason why he had started freaking out and he reached for his phone and then he felt sick all over again when he opened up his snapchat and swiped his thumb over her name. His stomach rolled over and he thought he was going to throw, which would be the first time in a long time he would have thrown up from being hungover. He stopped himself though, and flopped back down on his bed.

So he had sent multiple snapchats to Clary last night.

While he was drinking.

Maybe while he was _at home before he jerked off._

"Holy fuck!" Jace hissed out. What if it was while he had been getting off?! What if he had sent her a dick pic? "Oh, fuck," Jace threw his phone back on the ground, hearing it bounce across the carpet, ending up somewhere near the bathroom door.

He knew he shouldn't have gone out with Isabelle.

Bad things tended to happen when he went out with Isabelle.

Especially when alcohol got involved.

He wondered if he should send Clary a message, maybe apologize if he had said something that he shouldn't have. There was definite flirting going back and forth, but it was harmless—completely harmless, given they had never met and the distance between them. But now...He had potentially ruined all of that by sending her pictures while he was drunk, possibly of himself with his cock in his hand.

"Fuck my _life_ ," Jace hissed through clenched teeth as he pressed his fingers to his temple, trying to relieve the pounding behind his eyes. He took in a couple of deep breaths, and thought about shoving his head under his pillow and trying to go back to sleep. Well, no, he was actually thinking about running out the French doors, onto his balcony, and then right over the edge and plummet toward the ground. Instead, he waited a couple of minutes, until the aching in his head wasn't quite as bad, and then reached out for the phone in the cradle on his bedside table.

"Mr Herondale? What can I get you?" Asked the man on the other end.

"Yeah, uh," Jace's foggy brain tried to process things other than the extreme embarrassment he was feeling right now. "Can I have freshly squeezed orange juice and Eggs Benedict brought up to me room in about half an hour?"

"Of course," the man agreed. "Did you want that with bacon or salmon?"

"Salmon," Jace said. "Thanks."

"No problem, Mr Herondale," the man confirmed and the call was disconnected. He laid in bed for a few more minutes before getting up and stripping out of his briefs, which were hard and crusted at the front of cum, and he made a face. It was extremely teenager of him, and he really didn't want to think about it as he picked them off the ground and also the shirt he must have used to clean himself off with and tossed them in the basket in the corner of the room. Jace turned on his shower and got inside, leaving it on cold to help him wake up and hopefully relieve the pressure in his head.

After breakfast, he picked his phone back up off the ground and went to his camera roll, wondering if he had saved any of the pictures he had sent to Clary. There were a bunch of selfies from Isabelle, which wasn't unusual, and a few blurry photos of the party, near the end o the evening. Maybe that was all he had sent to her.

He really wasn't sure, though.

Because he knew that he had thought about Clary on a number of occasions when he was by himself...And getting off. He had thought about her smile and her eyes and then his mind had drifted to a couple of other snapchats that he had gotten from her on nights when she had gone out with her friends, or when she had gone out to the beach and was in a bikini. Then there had been a few cheeky ones when she had gotten home from being out, and she had had a couple of drinks, and he had asked for a few snaps. The first few times she had sent him a slightly blurry photo with her middle finger raised.

He had backed off, because in all honesty, he didn't want to loose her as the pretty girl on the other end of the camera who sent him silly pictures, not knowing that she was sending them to the son of two of the biggest names in Hollywood.

But then she seemed to relent, and Jace had never been so excited to see some PG-13 pictures in his life.

"Izzy?" Jace grunted when the call was answered.

"You better be fucking dead, Jace," came the hiss of a reply, and Jace could just picture her now. Isabelle was practically a vampire when she didn't have a show that she needed to preparing show or any shoots. She would go out all night, and sleep all day, her curtains pulled and buried under her blankets and pillows. "Because if you're calling me for any other reason that to tell me that you're dead, then I'm going to fucking _kill_ you."

"What pictures did I send to Clary last night?" He demanded, ignoring her dramatics. Isabelle was quiet on the other end of the line for a few moments.

"Your pictures girl?" Isabelle mumbled.

"You know another Clary?" Jace's voice was snarky, he knew, and really had no one to blame but himself, but lashing out was easy.

"Shit, man, cool down," Isabelle muttered, letting out a heavy sigh, and he heard her shifting around. Jace sucked his lower lip into his mouth to stop himself from making a noise of frustration. Isabelle seemed to get comfortable on the other end of the phone and she huffed out a breath. "Look, I'm pretty sure I was drunker than you last night. I know that we sent a couple of photos of everyone, which were pretty standard. I don't even remember _leaving_ the party, so I'm not going to remember what you sent her." Jace dropped his head into his free hand and let out a groan. "Why? What do you think you sent her?"

"I don't—I don't know," Jace admitted in a low voice. "Maybe a...NSFW one?"

"Did you send her a picture of your _cock_?!" Isabelle cried out and then both of them growled in protest as her shrill voice hurt their heads.

"I don't know! _Maybe_?!" Jace took in a deep breath and flopped backwards on his couch. "But she hasn't sent me anything. We send shit every day to each other, and it's after lunch where she see is, and she's opened everything I sent to her..."

"Well, I mean...It's not as though she knows who you are, so she's not going to leak them or anything," Isabelle began slowly. "You don't need to be worried about them ending up online or in magazines or anything. Your mum and dad aren't going to find out about them."

"She didn't take any screenshots, Iz," Jace sighed. "And that's not what I'm worried about—you know that. I hate the fact that she hasn't replied!"

"Shit, Jace," Isabelle muttered. "You rang because your girlfriend hasn't text you in a couple of hours? That's a little teenage girl of you, isn't it?"

"Thanks, Iz," Jace grouched. "You're a real help."

"Yeah, well, you woke me up. I'm still hungover as fuck," Isabelle snipped back. "So I'm going back to sleep. Hope you sort it out with that girl that you're too scared to meet." The call ended and Jace sighed, shifting his grip and looking down at the screen. He opened his snapchat account and swiped across her name, his thumb hovering over the screen. But he had no idea what he was meant to say. So he turned on his TV and tried to ignore his phone.

Jace didn't leave his apartment for the day, which wasn't unusual, but what was unusual was that he hadn't didn't get anything from Clary. Not a day would go by when there weren't pictures been sent, not always of anything special, sometimes just Clary at work, or Jace of the view out his window, but there was always something.

Today there was nothing.

He managed to hold off until ten o'clock, which meant that it was around seven o'clock where she was, given their three hour time difference. Then, Jace decided to bite the bullet and send her a message, not clipping a picture, just sending a worded message instead.

 _Can we talk?_

The TV was playing in front of him, but Jace was just staring down at his phone, as though he thought the harder he stared, the quicker she would reply. The message was still unopened five minutes later. That was really no time at all—barely any at all. She had a life, there was no way he could expect her to just have her phone on her and be checking it all the time, that was unrealistic and unfair. And most of the time, he didn't feel this anxious when he was waiting for a reply.

And then he got his reply.

His phone ringing—an unrecognized phone number.

Jace frowned, his eyebrows pulled together as he stared at the screen. He considered not answering, but on the off chance that he had given out his number last night—that it was Clary on the other end of the line, he answered.

"Hello?" He grunted. There was silence. "Hello?"

"Jace?" Came a soft voice that he instantly recognized from few second video clips he had been sent in the past.

Clary.

 _So! My song recommendations this time are_ Help Me Close My Eyes _by Those Dancing Days,_ Burn So Bright _by Bella Thorne and_ Broken Prayers _by Riley Clemmons. Ooh—and_ I Wanna Know _by Bea Miller. Shit, I love most things by Bea, she's bloody amazing, and I've had this song on repeat, for like the past two months. Haha. Oh, and_ Go Dark _by Cassie Steele! It took me a while to get into this one, but I adore it now. Ooh ooh! And_ Lie _by Halsey featuring Quavo. Fucking looove it. Although let's face it, I love everything by her. Omg! And also_ What I Need _by Hayley Kiyoko featuring Kehlani. I've only recently gotten into Kehlani, since I saw her open for Halsey, but I adore Hayley, and I'm so glad she's becoming more popular. This video has just come out and its amaaazing._

 _In other news...The second season of_ Queer Eye _is almost out! Whoop whoop! I bloody love them all, and I cried in every single episode of the first season. Antoni is just bloody beautiful, and Tan and Karamo...Omfg. Gorgeous. And then Bobby is so talented and Jonathan is amazing. Haha. I recommend to all! Also, has everyone seen the new_ Robin Hood _trailer? I love Taron Egerton, can't wait for the movie!_

 _I've starting dabbling in oneshots again. I generally post them all at one time, when I've got chance to come back and edit them all properly, but I'm taking requests if you want to see them through. Doesn't have to specifically be this fandom, go onto my profile and check out other fandoms I'm in or send me a message. Send through songs or ideas and I can try to make them work!_

 _Lastly, I keep meaning to pimp out the amaaazing reppinda5o3, who I absolutely adore. First of all she's got this amazing trilogy that is currently on it's second installment, first one called_ Send My Love (To Your New Lover) _and the second is called_ Hello _. Then there's her latest story and I've fallen in love and we're just one chapter deep,_ Set Fire To The Rain _. And then her baby,_ Clarissa Is A Punk _, which is an angsty ride, but I trust her to get us there in the end! Go and check them out and show her some love. She's ridiculously busy, but she still finds time to write, and her detail and care in her writing is insane, and also listen to me with my one million ideas and was also one of the people to keep me sane when I was house bound for a few months. Including keeping my company literally as I'm typing this because I'm home sick. So go. Go, go, go, go, go!_

 _Send me your recommendations, send me your thoughts on the story, send me anything and I will reply when I can! Let me know if you want a preview xxx_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys._

 _Okay. So..._

 _This is a bit weird, but I thought I should probably post something._

 _I've had a few messages from people, and I've replied to a couple of them, but I guess it would be more fair to post this for everyone to see._

 _I'm just taking a bit of a break from here. I've got a lot going on at the moment; my heads a bit of a mess, my relationship needs work, my job is going through a a lot of changes which is stressful and honestly I'm just not doing too great. Usually writing is my outlet but I've been really stumped lately. I've managed to write a few oneshots but I'm just not happy with them and I just_ can't _write. I open up word documents like every night and just can't get anything out, and when I finally do, I'm not happy with what I do. Over the past six weeks or so I've gotten some shitty reviews which are always from anon's because why would they log in to leave feedback and have a conversation about it? I delete them because I'm one of those people who just re-read and re-read them and obsess over them and it just isn't a great time! So maybe that's got something to do with how..._ Not _like writing I feel._

 _I'm posting this on all of my stories, even the ones I don't update regularly, because I'm not sure how long it'll be before I update. I'm going to try get around to all the reviews I haven't replied to and the messages that are piled up in my inbox, and I_ _hope I'll snap out of my funk soon and then it'll be back to normal :)_

 _I love you guys, 99% of you are absolutely amazing and you're so supportive and patient with me, and I want to say thank you for that x_


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey, beautiful people!_

 _I'm back! You guys have all been beautiful and I appreciate all of your kind words. I'm feeling a lot better, although, as anyone suffering from anxiety, depression and any other lovely mental health issues, I'm taking one day at a time. Still feeling a little...Iffy, but hey. That's life._

 _We're coming up to the end of the year and I always take a couple of months off over Christmas/New Years. So what I'm going to do is update all my stories at the beginning of each month until I go on a break over December/January and then I'll go back to a regular schedule with two monthly updates._

 _Also, a few of you guys tried to help out and suggested maybe if I didn't write so many stories, I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I absolutely love that you guys are trying to help, but the amount of stories isn't the problem. My problems are outside of this little fandom world I try to bury myself in, and the thing that was making it difficult for me to enjoy posting and updating and interacting with you guys was because of a few nasty reviews that just really hit when I was feeling pretty damn shit. So, thank you! But it's okay, I manage sharing out my time on each story well, since I get inspired for different stories all the time and bounce all over the place!_

 _Anyway, on with the story..._

"Clary?" Jace croaked out, completely taken aback.

"Jace?" She sounded just as surprised to be talking to him. They fell into a silence that felt stretched and awkward, but in all honesty, Jace was still trying to figure out how she got his number. A couple of not so great thoughts popped into his head; that she had somehow tracked his number using his snapchat name, that she had had _someone else_ track his number, that she wasn't actually some anonymous girl and she was actually some sort of reporter or blogger. "Uh..." she cleared her throat on the other end of the phone and he heard some rustling, probably moving around. "You sent me your number last night...And when you messaged me asking if we could talk, I thought that maybe you meant talk like this..." he could hear the nervousness in her voice, and that made Jace feel instantly guilty for doubting her.

Clary had never, _ever_ given him a reason to think that she knew who he was, or was talking to him because she wanted something from him, some sort of backstory or behind the scenes glimpse. Hell, _he_ had been the one that pushed for more pictures, that had prompted their unusual friendship along.

"Um," Clary audibly swallowed and Jace realized that he was still completely silent on his end. "You know, it was kinda clear you were drinking last night and maybe this was a bad idea," her voice pitched upward a little. "I can just delete the number and we can totally pretend that this didn't happen and we can go back to what we were doing before—"

"No!" Jace was surprised by how loud his voice was and he cringed, forcing himself to take in a breath and lower his volume. "No, uh...I mean, I didn't mean to give you my number last night," he let out a short chuckle. "I actually don't totally remember everything I sent you last night, in all honesty, I was pretty drunk. But I've been thinking that we should exchange numbers for a while now, and I just wasn't sure what you were going to say, so..." he made a face at the mirror opposite him. He was usually a whole lot smoother with woman, but there was just something about Clary that made him trip over his words.

"So drunk you has bigger balls than sober you?" Clary's voice sounded a little lighter now, teasing him. Jace felt his body relax back into the pillows behind him, not paying any attention to the low hum coming from the TV, focusing completely on Clary.

"Maybe it's something like that," Jace smiled.

"You did seem pretty drunk last night," Clary continued. "Was there some occasion or just out with friends?"

"After Izzy's thing she wanted to go out. Usually I don't like going out with her friends, but this was kind of a special occasion, so I went," Jace wasn't about to tell Clary that Isabelle's 'thing' was a fashion show. He was selfish enough to be want to have at least one normal conversation with her, hopefully two. Several hundred if he's being totally honest with himself.

"Oh right, Izzy. The gorgeous one who's like your sister," Clary replied easily, and it sounded like maybe she was smiling on the other end of the line. God, Jace really wanted to see that smile in person. He had seen countless photos of her smiling, her eyes sparkling, her slightly crooked yet adorable teeth on display, and he really wanted to see that in person. "So I know I told you that I totally get the whole 'it'd be weird to hook up with her because she's like my sister' because of Simon being like my brother. But even if that girl was my sister, I would hook up with her!" Jace couldn't hold back his laugh and he heard Clary huff out a sound like laughter as well.

"No, no. Definitely...Definitely no hooking up with Isabelle," Jace felt the need to reinforce, even though they were joking.

"But, uh...You had a good night last night? You looked like you were in the pictures," Clary continued and Jace felt nervousness sink to the pit of his stomach again. He still couldn't really remember what pictures he had sent last night, and given he knew for a fact that he had ended the night with jerking off, he really hoped he had restrained himself from sending any of that to her.

Then again, she wouldn't have called him if she had been totally disgusted or put off by anything that he had sent her. So that had to be a good thing.

"I don't remember too much of last night, if I'm being honest," Jace answered.

"I kinda guessed that, given your reaction to the call," Clary said, her voice sounding tentative again. She fell quiet and Jace hoped that she wasn't regretting her decision to call him in the first place.

"I was surprised, yeah," Jace told her. "But I'm glad that you called."

"Yeah, something about drunk you having bigger balls," Clary joked.

"Whatever," Jace retorted, but he was grinning. "So..." his brain scrambled for things to say, and the most boring thing fell out. "What have you been up to today?" He then winced and let his head fall back against his headboard with a thud. But Clary didn't seem to think it was a stupid question.

"I went out for breakfast with some of my friends," she began, and he heard her moving around again. "We usually try to get together at least every couple of weeks and go out for breakfast, even though we see each other pretty much every day. Lydia was hungover as shit. She went out with a couple of girls that she was in the cheerleading squad with, and those skinny blonde bitches go pretty crazy when it comes to their vodka screwdrivers." Jace snorted. "Jordan was there as well, which can get a little awkward, but—" Clary sucked in a breath and Jace's eyebrows pulled together, trying to remember who Jordan was because he had heard the name in conversation a couple of times, but Clary had already moved onto the next part of the conversation. "Aline and Helen had been going on about this new movie—"

"What one?" Jace prompted, hoping that she would just keep on talking until he fell asleep.

" _City of Heavenly Fire_. Have you heard of it?" The name of the familiar movie made his stomach squeeze uncomfortably. Clary continued, not waiting for his response. "It's got this actress in it—Celine Herondale. I'm pretty sure Aline has a crush on the woman even though she's old enough to be her mother." Jace winced at that, given she was his mother. "Anyway, I went to the movie's with them, and saw that, and then I stopped by my office to do some work. I had a couple of prints I wanted to finish off before the new week began. And then I came home, helped mum out with picking some of the older vines, showered, and then you messaged me and I called you!" She seemed to come to the end of her day with an uplift to her voice, and Jace smiled. "Just your average, boring day. What about you?"

Jace had a hundred questions he wanted to ask, one of the more burning ones being that he wanted to see if he could fly out there and experience one of those boring days with her, because it sounded better than anything he had lived through in a long time.

Instead, he took a deep breath to settle his mind and continued calmly.

"Pretty much just slept, recovering from last night. I, uh," he let out a rueful laugh. "I spent a lot of time worrying about what I sent you, because when I woke up I saw I sent you a couple of snapchats..." he let that comment lay there, hoping that she would fill the blanks.

"What? You want me to put you out of your misery and tell you what you sent me?" Clary laughed.

"Something like that," Jace was glad that she couldn't see him, given the tips of his ears felt hot and were undoubtedly pink. Clary laughed again, and the sound was like music to his ears. Drunk Jace sending his phone number to Clary was definitely one of the best decisions that he had ever made.

"Well..." he heard her take in a deep breath. "You sent a couple of standard ones, looked like a bunch of pretty girls in really expensive dresses." So that would have been while he was at the party. "And a couple of photos I think with Isabelle. And then of course there was the number, and you said—" she broke off for a moment, and Jace frowned. "You said that you wishyoucouldhearmyvoice," her words all smushed together, as though she was embarrassed or nervous, but Jace still made each one out and the pinkness in his ears spread across his cheeks.

"Ummm," Jace licked his lips and looked over at the laundry basket in the corner of the room, which was now empty, since house cleaning had come up to collect it, but it had previously held his clothing that he had used to wipe up his come. "That was it?"

"There may have been one other picture," Clary's voice was almost coy. "Were you thinking about one of those girls at the party when you got home and were lying in bed by yourself?" Jace had been forcing himself to breathe in, breathe out normally, but he almost choked on the air in his throat when she said that.

"W-what?" He stuttered out.

"There was a photo..." Clary teased lightly. "You were in bed, and your hand was...Going south. Were you thinking about those pretty girls from the party when you were doing that?" Jace bit down on his lower lip, which was already slightly tender and red from the amount of times he had chewed on it worriedly throughout the day. When he started speaking again, his voice was a little huskier than he had planned it being.

"Trust me, there's only been one girl on my mind when I'm doing _that...A_ nd I sent the picture to her." Clearly Drunk Jace was braver than him in a lot of ways, sending that picture to Clary. The conversation had taken a bit of a turn and Jace wasn't too certain if this was a good or bad development. But Clary didn't seem to be putting a stop to it.

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one," Clary's laugh is a bit shaky, but honest. "You know, I was thinking—" suddenly she broke off, and Jace could hear a woman voice in the background. Jace bit back his frustration as he heard Clary call out to the woman. "Yeah, sure thing! I'm ready!" Her voice returned, directed at him a moment later. "Uh, so my mums here, I'm going up for dinner with her and Luke. But you've got my number now. So you can text me?" There's a hopeful tinge to her voice.

"Yeah, absolutely," Jace tried to keep the disappointment out his voice, that she was leaving so soon. "I'll...Talk to you later."

"Bye, Jace," she murmured, her voice soft and light, before the call was disconnected.

Jace saved her phone number immediately.

 _Okay! I have so many recommendations, so I apologize in advance for how long this is going to be._

 _Songs!_ Back To You _by Selena Gomez. Holy shit. Words can't even express how much I love this song. Like...My heart, every time...Shit. Yes. And all the fandom videos to this song on Youtube, I'm just loving all of them, they're just incredible. Then there's_ Somethin' We Shouldn't Do _by Chad Brownlee,_ Bad Company _by Five Finger Death Punch,_ Higher _by The Score,_ Panic Attacks _by Elohim and then_ I Said Hi, Mess Her Up _and_ Middle of the Night _by Amy Shark. I've become completely obsessed with Amy Shark. Haha. Then there's also_ Sober _by Demi Lovato...Which does all sorts of different things to my heart now, than Back To You. After her recent relapse, I get a little teary when listening to it..._

 _So movie/TV series wise..._ Alex Strangelove _\- It's quirky and awkward and fucking hilarious and it made me so happy. All of the characters are just so beautiful and well-written and realistic. It's a bit weird, I absolutely cringed a few times and definitely has some areas it could improve on, but if I'm being totally honest...I think it may actually be in like my top twenty movies. It just made me feel so good. My hubby loved it as well. And then there's_ Jane The Virgin _, which we're slowly getting through. My husband is firmly Team Raphael while I'm firmly Team Michael...Now that he's back, I have high hopes. LOL. Also I've recently gotten into_ Reign _, and I'm in love._

 _Also, is anyone else watching_ Who Is America _? Holy shit. It makes me cringe to the point where I hide my face in a pillow, but it's hilarious and chilling and I recommend to all._

 _Anyway, let me know if you guys have any recommendations. Leave a review, let me know what you think, because your reviews mean so much to me xx_


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey, beautiful people. Here's the next chapter._ _Also_ — _I've got Pink's concert next weekend! She's going to be fucking amazing!_

Jace was on his way back in to his apartment after going downstairs to use the hotels gym when he heard his phone ringing. He pulled it out of the pocket of his baggy shorts he had worn to work out in and there was a fleeting moment of disappointment when it wasn't Clary's name on his screen, even though they had just spoken the day before. Jace swiped a hand across his sweaty face and kicked off his shoes before answering the call.

"Hey, mum," he acknowledged, a smile on his face as he heard his mothers voice.

"Hi, sweetheart!" Celine Herondale responded cheerfully. "How's it all going?"

"I'm good," Jace replied as he leaned against a wall for support as he hooked his finger in one sock at a time and pulled them off, tossing them near his shoes. "What about you? Oh—I read a bunch of reviews about your new movie. Good to know at least some reporters out there know a good thing when they see it." Who was he kidding, the paparazzi and reporters and bloggers loved Stephen and Celine Herondale, and everything they were in. _He_ was just the target for the bad press in the family.

"Yes, I'm very happy with the way it's been received, so is my agent and the producers and director," Celine mused before shifting the conversation back to her son. "And you—I saw a photo of you at Izzy's fashion show the other week? Admittedly, it wasn't a very good photo, and I probably would have missed it if I hadn't spoken with Izzy the other day." Jace fought the urge to roll his eyes, knowing what was coming next. "I'm so glad that she got you out of the house—you really need to get out and about a bit more! It's not healthy to stay locked up in that apartment of yours—"

"I _do_ get out!" Jace protested.

"By getting out, I mean a little bit more than going by your restaurants and hiding in the kitchens, or by going out with your cousins and—once again—hiding under a hat and a ridiculous pair of sunglasses!" Celine replied. Jace just grumbled under his breath. "Sweetie, it's been a long time. I understand your need for privacy—of course I understand that—but you also need to get out there and live your life."

"I know, mum," Jace sighed, as she repeated things that she had told him over and over again before.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll stop that part of my lecture," Celine knew when she was pressing Jace too hard. "Although something else Isabelle told me definitely warrants talking about."

"What's that?" Jace asked, but he could already guess.

"She told me that there was a girl you've been talking to," Celine began, and Jace rolled his eyes at the completely expected turn of the conversation. "That you've been talking to her through some app on your phone? Izzy made it sound as though she is quite special to you. She also said that you haven't met her yet?"

"No, and I haven't decided if I'm going to yet, mum," Jace responded. Celine was quiet for a long moment and Jace felt uncomfortable in his own skin, knowing that his mother was analyzing every single thing that he had said to her. Stephen had a way of pushing when he wanted information from his son, whereas Celine had a way of asking just the right questions, and then waiting. "I'm just...I'm scared, okay? I mean, _you know_ that."

"Tell me about her," Celine prompted gently.

"She's..." Jace took in a deep breath. "Well, she's beautiful. Like, _completely_ beautiful. She's got this red hair that most of the time is going completely crazy in curls around her face. She's some type of artist, she's self employed and she works out of her friends shop, so even when she's at 'work' it doesn't look as though she puts on make up or do her hair. And her eyes—they're huge, and they're this intense green. And she lives on a vineyard, her parents own it, and she sends me these pictures of this amazing sunrise most mornings, or the sunset at night. It looks like heaven where she is. And she eats a ridiculous amount of food—she sends pictures of these burgers which look bigger than her head, and she pretty clearly doesn't give a shit about counting calories and all that shit that—"

"Okay, okay, okay," Celine laughed and Jace flushed bright red as he realized he had just been rambling on to his mother about a girl that he had _never even met_. "Sounds like you're pretty gone on this girl. What's her name?"

"Clary," Jace mumbled, glad that his mother couldn't see his face right now, given his cheeks were burning.

"Well, sweetie, it sounds like you've got it bad," Celine told him, and then he heard muffled voices in the background before his mother came back to the phone. "Okay, I need to go, sweetie."

"That's fine, mum," Jace responded, used to both of his parents busy schedules.

"The main reason behind my call was to tell you that I'm going to be in the city in a couple of weeks time. It's just for a weekend, and I've got an interview that's going to take up most of the morning on one of those days, but I want to meet up. It's been a long time since I've seen you in person," Celine continued, and there was movement and other voices on the other end of the line, probably several of her assistants. "I'll text you when I know actual times, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you then."

"Love you, Jace."

"Love you too, mum," Jace replied, and then the line went dead. He took his phone away from his ear and breathed in deep through his nose. His hair was damp with sweat, and he was in desperate need of a shower, but he took a moment to think. One of the things that he had realized from his short conversation with his mother was that it had been a while since he had gone by one of his restaurants. He owned a chain of very successful—and expensive—restaurants, which were started a couple of years ago with one of his friends, Sebastian Verlac. When he had been in the holiday retreat that was otherwise called 'rehab', they promoted cooking, something to keep their hands busy, and it turned out the Jace had quite enjoyed it. After he had been released and did some travelling, he had kept a low profile, becoming practically a hermit, but he still went out and attended some exclusive cooking classes.

It turned out that he had quite the talent for it, he was good at putting flavors together and it calmed him, the mess of the kitchen. Sebastian had been in one of the classes with him in Greece, and he didn't act any different when he found out who Jace was, because his own parents were pretty renown, just in different circles. His father owned a multi-billion dollar oil corporation and his mother was a socialite. Sebastian and Jace had gotten on well and had decided to do some travelling together for about a year before Jace felt the need to go back to New York.

Apart from his cousins and his parents, Sebastian was the only other person that Jace really left the house for.

They had opened up a restaurant together, Sebastian as the face of the place, while Jace was more than happy to just help with the menu and show up and hide in the kitchens on occasion when he was feeling a little cooped up in his apartment. He loved helping with the cooking—he loved cooking himself—although when he was alone he tended to order in room service, because spending so much time cooking when it was only for one could get a little bit depressing.

The restaurant had done well, which was good, and they had ended up expanding with two other buildings. The money that they generated was decent, although not all that much compared to the investments, properties and trust fund he already had in his name.

Jace made a mental note to go and visit Sebastian soon as he stripped out of his clothes and dumped them in the laundry basket, heading toward the shower. While in the shower, the second thing that had been brought to front of mind from his conversation with his mother was someone who was almost _always_ in his thoughts.

Clary.

He wasn't ashamed to admit that he took himself in his hand and came all over his fist while thinking about the red head. Although maybe he was a little bit embarrassed by the fact that while he was cleaning himself afterwards and _still_ thinking about her and now _her voice_ and the huskier way she had sounded near the end of the conversation as she had gotten sleep...To the point where he had needed to get off again.

When he got out of the shower and changed, he turned on the TV in the lounge and pressed on the Netflix account option. He was re-watching the old seasons if _Prison Break_ , given he was working himself up to watching the new season that had only recently been released, and he was already back up to season three, even though he had only started last week. So maybe his mum was right...And Isabelle, and Alec...He really didn't get out all that much.

He considered messaging Clary, but then decided on something different.

Jace went to his bedroom where his laptop was charging and laying on the ground beside his bed. He opened up his email account, fingers tapping out a message to his fathers assistant, asking if the private plane was available in a couple of weeks time to take him down to Malibu.

 _Now, my first thing is a Youtube video. It's only a couple of minutes, but it is absolutely fucking beautiful, my heart just...Shit. Anyway. Watch it. It's called_ Homophobia In 2018 | Time For Love _on the channel BBC Social. Please watch it. It's just a few minutes, just a tiny bit of your day, but it's just incredible._

 _Okay! So I have so many songs! Okay, so_ Afterlife _by XYLO. And then_ 1950 _and_ Talia _by King Princess—also, I heard that she and Amanda Stenburg are dating? Not sure if that's true, but damn cute couple if they are. Then there's_ Wild Love _by James Bay. The music video for this is absolutely amazing, Natalia looks fucking heavenly. I can't get over that song. Then there's_ Skydiving, Saviour _and_ We Were Here _by Lights. And then an older one,_ Life After You _, by Daughtry._ And What's Love Got To Do With It _, the cover by Prides, which I heard in_ Dynasty _and fell in love with._

Cloak and Dagger _has recently finished and it was amazing, and you should all definitely be watching it. There's also the show_ Castle Rock _that we've just started with Bill Skaarsgard, and I'll watch anything with him in it. Movie wise, we've recently watched_ Game Night _and_ Stronger _, which were both really good. We're September now and there's so many new seasons of my shows starting! What ones are you guys looking forward to?_

 _As a closing note, is anyone else keeping up with all this Jeffree Star drama and his ex-friends? I'm finding all of it hilarious. Me and one my best friends are in love with it all. Haha. Oh—and 21/08/2018 was apparently Fanfiction Appreciation Day! So, happy...That? Haha._

 _OMG—and everyone should watch_ Crazy Rich Asians _. I fucking loved it._

 _Let me know what you thought of the story, let me know if you want a preview of the next chapter x_


	9. Chapter 9

They had talked pretty much everyday before they had exchanged numbers, but by 'talk' it meant sending photos and messages, not actual _talking_. Now, however, ever since that drunken night where Jace had sent Clary his number, they had talked almost everyday, and they definitely texted everyday. He got to hear her voice most nights before bed, or he would get messages from her throughout the day, talking about mundane things like what she was doing at work or what he was watching on TV.

It felt so much more intimate, having her texts come right through to his phone rather than through the messenger app, and hearing her voice speaking directly to _him_ rather than just a short, couple of second long clip in a video made his heart do all kinds of strange things. He was feeling so much more happier, and it obviously showed, because Isabelle and Alec had begun teasing him no end. Even Sebastian had made a comment on his smile when he had gone into their restaurant, saying that it looked good on him.

"I seriously don't understand how you're always up so late!" Clary was saying, her voice sounding a little faint through the phone. "I mean, I know you're all Mr Fancy Pants who doesn't need to work like us mere mortals—" Jace snorted and rolled his eyes at her teasing, which really didn't bother him anywhere near as much as when other people brought up his family money and lack of need to work. "—But you must do something else with your days that actually require you to get a good nights rest!"

"I do get a good nights rest," Jace laughed as he made himself comfortable in his bed, idly watching the TV which was playing an old episode of _Smallville_. "It's just I usually sleep in until about twelve or one the next morning, so it's more like a...Good mornings rest?" Clary laughed, and now she sounded closer to the phone. He could hear the occasional splash of water and the clink of dishes against each other. "Anyway, what have you got planned for your weekend?"

"We're off to the beach tomorrow," Clary responded and there was a splash of water again. "We try to go every second weekend in the summer, and it's Simon's turn to pay for dinner on the way back because he has oh-so-conveniently forgotten his wallet the last couple of times that we went." She went quiet but Jace didn't interrupt because she was cleaning her kitchen and doing dishes and every so often she got distracted before returning to the conversation. Sure enough, a few moments later she began talking again. "There's this adorable little cafe that we always go to for dinner after the beach—they do the most _amazing_ burgers, and they also do this lemon meringue pie that is to die for."

"How many of you guys head up there?" Jace prompted.

"We generally fill two cars," Clary replied. "We've all been friends for years, most of us went to school together and somehow we've all ended up back up in the same town all these years later. Oh, except for Lydia, because I met her when I was at college and then she moved out here a few years ago, and Helen, she's Aline's girlfriend and she only moved out here after they got together."

"You guys are really lucky," Jace commented, almost without thinking, and then winced at how wistful he sounded. But Clary didn't seem to notice, because she just continued.

"Yeah, I know," she sounded like she was smiling, and Jace felt a pang of longing at how much he wished that they were having this conversation face to face so that he could actually _see_ that smile rather than just hear it in her voice. "I know that a lot of people end up drifting apart after high school, and I mean, for a while a lot of us did. I lost track of a lot of people other than Simon after school, but we all came back together and that's awesome." Jace didn't add to the conversation, didn't say that she was lucky to have that many people to consider who true friends to begin with, given he could count the amount of people he trusted on one hand.

"So you're into lemon meringue pie, huh?" Jace asked, shifting the conversation back to safer topics.

"Into it?" Clary let out a snort. "Dude, I would happily die young if it meant that I could have it every day. Like, I don't even give a shit about diabetes or cholesterol or _anything_ if it meant that I could have a _good_ lemon meringue pie every day for the rest of my life." Jace laughed at that, slumping down further against the pillows in his bed.

"I actually make a pretty mean lemon meringue pie," he divulged.

"What?!" It sounded as though she had stopped moving around for a moment. "How has this never come up? Why have you never told me this? Are you holding out on me here?" Jace couldn't help but laugh harder at the barrage of questions that she was throwing at him. "You need to make me some of this pie and then fast courier it to me. I will be the judge of how good you are."

"Pretty sure it would get ruined in the courier," Jace replied lightly.

"Then you're just going to have to figure out another way to get it to me," Clary teased him and Jace felt his heart beat a little faster in his chest. She had mentioned it in passing a couple of times now, a thinly veiled hint for him to come down and visit her, and Jace so desperately wanted to ask her if she was being serious, if she would be okay with him coming down, but he was too worried about what she might reply. "Hey, Jace?" There were some muffled noises and then a click and suddenly Jace was no longer on speaker phone and her voice was coming directly into the phone.

"What's up?" He asked quietly, sensing it was something serious given she had taken him off speaker.

"When's the last time you went to the beach?" She asked him. It was such a simple question, but he could tell there was more to the words than face value. So maybe his tone before when he had been commenting on how lucky she was with his group of friends hadn't been missed by her. He bit down on his lower lip as he considered her question, wondering whether he should answer what she had actually asked, or the underlying question.

"Uh," Jace cleared his throat as he tried to think and then blinked when he realized how long it had been. "Couple of years," he answered, going with an answer to the actual question.

"That's a long time," Clary commented. "How, uh, how many people did you go with?"

"I was with my cousin and his boyfriend," Jace answered, shifting in the bed.

"Did you have fun?" She pressed.

"Yes," he replied.

"So why don't you go more often?" She encouraged. "With your cousins and with your friends, all go to the beach. _Have fun_."

"It's not really that simple, Clary," Jace scratched at his cheek, trying not to ignore the frustration that was welling inside him. He could count on one hand the amount of times he had gotten annoyed at Clary, and it seemed as though today was going to be another one of those moments. And it wasn't even as though she was doing anything to annoy him, she was simple trying to be a good friend, try to give him support to go out and have fun. It was times like this that he just wanted to tell her the truth, tell her who he was and why it just _wasn't that easy_.

"Right," Clary murmured, sounding a little sad. "Because of your parents? You said that they were quite well known?"

"Something like that," Jace responded. The silence stretched out between them and Jace's fingers tightened around his cellphone, not too sure what to say. In the end, it was Clary who broke the quiet, taking in a deep breath.

"You know...We're pretty isolated out where we are," Clary told him slowly. "I mean, obviously there's town and everything, but even then, it's nothing like New York. It's pretty secluded. And where I live—on the vineyard—is even more isolated. I don't—I don't know what it's like to be worried to go out like you are, I can't understand that, but at least no one knows you out here? I mean—" Clary cut herself off again and Jace couldn't hep but smile at her rambling. "What I'm trying to say is that if you want to get away from whatever it is that's keeping you stuck inside and not living your life, you can always come out here." Jace swallowed hard.

And there it was.

That was a blatant invitation.

"It's nothing like that amazing apartment you send me photos of and you definitely wouldn't have room service, but as long as you're okay with my friends bothering you and potentially being interrogated by my dad, you're welcome to come out here and take a break," Clary let out a nervous sounding laugh. "It's just a suggestion..."

"Thanks, Clary, that means a lot," Jace told her softly.

"I have been known to be a sweetheart on occasion," Clary's voice had the teasing lilt back to it, and it made Jace smile. He heard her yawn on the other end of the phone and he pulled his phone away from his ear to look at the time. It was nearly two in the morning, which meant it was about eleven where Clary was.

"I better let you go, since you need to get up early for the beach tomorrow," Jace said reluctantly.

"Yeah, Simon's gonna be here at six in the morning," Clary sighed. "I really need to get some sleep. But, uh, I was being serious. About the invite."

"Thanks, Clary," Jace repeated. "Sleep well."

"You too, Jace," her voice was soft and sweet as she fare-welled him. Jace hung up the phone, tossing it onto the bedside table before smiling at the TV, feeling completely calm after hearing her voice, and he knew that he would sleep well with that voice being the last one that he would hear.

 _Sooooo the first thing I want to say was that the P!nk concert was absolutely amazing! Holy shit, she was incredible. She spent more time up in the air than she did on the stage. It was also her birthday the night we went, so her daughter and hubby came out with a cake, and shit...The whole thing was just amazing._

 _I rewatched a couple of old movies when I was off work sick, some of my old favourites;_ Dinosaur, Matilda _and_ Stardust _. Honestly, I can never get tired of them. Animated movies are my go-to's when I'm sick or drained and just done with life. Haha. They're just the beeeest. I also really wanted to recommend_ Hannah Gandsby: Nanette _. It's a comedy special on Netflix and I really don't want to say much about it and give it away, but it is absolutely incredible, and not quite what you would expect? Watch iiiiiit._

 _Song wise, I'm super obsessed with_ Dynasty _by MIIA, and all the fandom videos on Youtube using that song. And_ High Hopes _by Panic! at the Disco. Everytime I hear that song, all I can see is Shawn Mendes appreciative look at Brendon Urie as he was performing it at the VMA's. Hahaha. Also_ High On Life _by Martin Garrix,_ Temporary Love _by Joey,_ 48 _by Moss Kena and_ The Getaway _by Hilary Duff. If you guys have any recommendations, send them through!_

 _I've also become re-obsessed with 5SOS. They were amazing in concert when I saw them a few years ago, but I hadn't been a massive fan then. I ammmm now! Luke Hemming in that damn glittery eyeliner. Shit! And maybe when he and Michael play each others guitars, I get intense heart eyes, I don't know..._

 _Oh, has anyone watched the newest season of Ozark? I_ haven't _gotten around to it yet, not sure if it's as good as the first season? Also, we finally finished_ Banshee _. Haha. I know that it's a super old show, but we just have so many that we took ages to get through. But we finally did! God, it was brilliant. I absolutely adored Job and Sugar, and Siobhan just broke my heart. Overall, the show was great, and if you haven't seen it, please do!_

 _Oooh, oooh! And_ The Gifted _is back! Thunderblink is beautiful and I'm totally digging Andy's look. And_ SVU _!_

 _Oh—and is everyone else watching the new Shane Dawsons documentary? I don't really like the subject matter at all, dude's an ass, but I love him._

 _Omg. Okay. I'll stop here. God I hate these once monthly updates. Can't wait till my schedule is less busy. Anyway. Let me know what you thought of the chapter, and let me know if you want a preview xx_


	10. Chapter 10

_Okay, so...I had a really, really,_ really, really _shitty day. Not the worst I've had, not by far, I actually managed to get myself out of bed and somehow drove to work, although through anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, I don't remember much. So I had a horrible, horrible day, but then I came home and my husband had brought me roses, and chocolate, and my favourite lollies—and not_ just _my favourite lollies, but he went through all the packs at the shop to find the one with the most of the pineapple lollies, which are my_ favourite of the favourite _. Then we watched almost three hours of Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams videos, and fell more in love with Garrett Watts._

 _And now I feel a lot better. A_ hell _of a lot better._

 _So much better that I wanted to do something to make you guys happy as well :)_

 _Here's an update..._

"Sweetheart!" Celine Herondale got up from where she was sitting at a reserved table at the back of the restaurant. Jace smiled as he approached his mother, letting her pull him in for a tight hug. This was a very exclusive restaurant, so he had taken off his sunglasses at the door, but he still couldn't help glance around and wonder if anyone here was paying attention to them or taking photos. It didn't seem as though they were, and the bodyguard who was sitting at a booth nearby with a petite brunette looked as though they would step in if anyone tried to approach them. "Oh, it's been too long—but then time goes so fast! It feels like just last week I was speaking with you on the phone, but it's already been a month!"

"I know," Jace gave her a wan smile, because he couldn't quite agree. Time did go fast when you were jumping from one continent to the next, doing multiple interviews a day, but that was Celine's life—and Stephens—not his. Time went a little slower when he was holed up in his apartment all day, barely ever venturing out.

"You remember Victor and Maureen?" Celine nodded over to the bodyguard and personal assistant, and Jace gave them a smile as well before he and his mother slid into their booth. "Actually, you may not have met Maureen—she's only recently become my PA."

"I think you had Gretel last time," Jace stated.

"Oh, Gretel," Celine tilted her head to the side. "Ooh, I haven't had her since...Since end of last year." Jace raised an eyebrow and Celine clicked her tongue. "I guess it has been some time," she made an apologetic expression with her face and reached across the table to lay her hand on his. "I'm sorry it's been so long, baby." Jace shook his head and smiled at her.

"It's okay, mum, I understand," Jace replied, turning his hand over so that he could give hers a squeeze. And the truth was, he did. Sometimes when he spoke with Clary, she sounded completely confused when she spoke about his parents, and the relationship that he had with them. But it was the way he had always been brought up, and he was used to it. "Are you ready to order? I'm so hungry and I know what I want—I've come in here a couple of times with Alec and Izzy. I always get the duck."

"Is it good?" Celine asked as she skimmed over the menu.

"Yup," Jace nodded.

"As good as yours?" Celine pressed, lifting her eyes and shooting Jace a smile. Jace couldn't stop his warm smile back. "You know I think you should be doing more in in that restaurant of yours. You've got such a talent when it comes to cooking."

"I'm also good with the business side of things, and the restaurants do better when I'm a silent partner," Jace shrugged. He didn't add that it was better for him as well, because he really didn't want to have to deal with so many people face-to-face. That was what his partner was for.

"I don't agree with that, but that's your decision," Celine responded and then fell quiet as a waitress came over to them with a wide smile. It was clear that the waitress recognized Celine—maybe both of them—by the way that her eyes lit up, but she was a professional and managed not to fawn. She took their orders and then walked away with a promise to bring them back their drinks shortly. "So," Celine leaned back in the booth and tilted her head to the side as she looked across the table at her son. "How's your girl—"

"Clary," Jace supplied.

"—Clary," Celine smiled easily. "How's everything going with her? Have you thought anymore about going to meet her?"

"I've..." Jace took in a deep breath through his nose. "I've emailed dad—or his secretary, at least, you know that he's terrible at checking his messages—about borrowing his plane, taking a flight out to the Malibu house and driving up to see her," it felt strange saying it out loud, because up until this point, he had only thought about it, or put it in writing. But actually saying it, that he was thinking about going to see her, that felt a whole lot more real. "I'm just...I'm not sure..."

"Have you told her that you're thinking about it? What it is between you two...Is it serious? You're sure she doesn't have a boyfriend or anyone that she's seeing?" Celine asked. The idea made Jace's stomach twist uncomfortably even though he knew that they were legitimate questions.

"I don't think so," he replied honestly. "Although it's not really something we've talked about in too much depth. And if she was seeing someone, it's not as though she's doing anything wrong, we only talk—"

"Although quite frequently, from what I understand," Celine interjected. "If she did have a boyfriend—or a girlfriend, then that would be...Well, it would be doing something wrong, talking to another man." Jace blinked across the table at his mother and didn't have time to respond before the waitress came back with a glass of wine for Celine and a bottle of expensive beer for Jace. She gave them another wide smile, her eyes lingering on Celine before she backed away.

"You seem to have a fan," Jace noted as he picked up his beer.

"And you seem to be deflecting," Celine replied easily as she sipped from her wine glass.

"I don't think she's got a boyfriend," Jace answered, finality in her voice. "I know that she's not...Celibate, or whatever," he winced at how weird that sound, and how this was sort of a weird conversation to be having with his mother. "But she lives alone, and she sends me snap chats all the time, and apart from a guy that she's been friends with forever and says is like her brother, there's never really any other guys that feature."

"Pictures can be decieving," Celine warned lightly.

"I thought that you were trying to encourage me to go and see her?"

"I am."

"It sort of sounds like you're trying to talk me out of it."

"I'm not."

"Right," Jace frowned and Celine gave him a serene smile.

"Pictures can speak a thousand words. As people who are in the spotlight almost every time they step outside and who get their photo taken and interpreted a hundred different ways, we know this better than most," she continued. "So you know how things can seem one way, but are actually a complete other. The best way to find out what the truth is, is to go to the source of the photo, speak with them in person." Jace realized what Celine was saying, and it all made sense.

Just like Isabelle made sense when she was trying to talk him into meeting Clary.

Just like his _brain_ made sense when it was telling him the next step—if there was ever going to be any further with Clary, past talking over the phone and sending one another photos—was that they were going to have to meet.

But his heart was scared, that maybe his mother was right, and she was too good to be true.

"I'm not saying this to scare you," Celine murmured. "I'm saying this because I want you to be prepared, I don't want you to be hurt."

"I think that it's a little bit late for that," Jace muttered before taking in a deep breath. "She's invited me out, but it's like she's kidding or teasing, it wasn't anything serious. I don't think."

"But she _might_ have been being serious," Celine encouraged. "You won't know unless you ask. At the end of the day, you've only got two options. You can cut off all connection with her and move on with someone else, or you can go out and see her. You can't remain motionless forever." Jace licked his lips and breathed in deeply.

"I'm thinking about it, okay?" He stated. "Anyway, how are you doing? Have you seen dad recently?"

"I was in Spain last week," Celine nodded, but the smile on her face was a little sad. "Your father has almost finished filming, and I'll be finished with my press tour soon, so hopefully we'll be able to spend some proper time together." Jace didn't like seeing his mother look sad, so he shifted to the subject of Isabelle's career and Alec and Magnus' relationship, and then they were both smiling.

 _Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, or today is that day for a lot of you, the 10th._

 _Please be kind to each other, people have so much going on in their heads that just isn't obvious from the outside._

 _Much love xx_


	11. Chapter 11

_Hey guys :) So this is my last update of the year. I've got quite a lengthy A/N below, but in case you guys don't want to read my droning on and on, then I want to wish you guys a safe and a happy holidays and I will be back next year xxx_

 _Also, I have posted several new stories, including a werewolf one called_ Put Your Heart On Mine, _and a biker one,_ Wrong Side Of A Parallel Universe _. I definitely have my favourite AU's. Haha. So check those out :)_

Clary frowned down at the paper in front of her, sticking the light purple pencil between her teeth and picking up a blue one, blending the two colours together. Usually pencils weren't her medium—she preferred to work with paint—but this particular author had used some of her illustrations before and they had been done in pencil, and that was what they wanted this time. After a few minutes, she leaned back, one pencil still between her teeth and the other pencil spinning between her fingers as she looked at the half finished picture. She had been working on it for most of the morning, and had started over twice already, not particularly happy with the product she had in front of her.

"You don't look very happy," Aline noted as she came into the room and Clary let out a sigh, pulling the pencil out of her teeth and dropping it to her desk. "Not going well?"

"Nah," Clary shook her head. "You know that book I illustrated for a while ago—kids book with the girl who could turn into a dragon?" Aline nodded. "This is for the sequel, and the girl is a couple years older, and the dragon has matured or whatever, and so looks a bit different..." Clary crinkled up her nose. "Anyway, it's not going well."

"I've just ordered burgers for us, so we can take a break for lunch, maybe you'll feel better after," Aline replied as she walked over to the armchair that was underneath the large window that was letting sun stream in to the upstairs office. She picked up a magazine from the pile that Clary collected from her friends to use when she did collages, ripping pages out of the trashy magazines.

"Shouldn't you be working or something?" Clary raised her eyebrow as Aline slung her legs over the arm of the chair and made herself comfortable, flipping through the magazine.

"It's my lunch break," Aline protested with a grin. "Besides, that's one of the perks of being your own boss."

"Technically your mum is your boss," Clary pointed out as she poked one of her expensive coloured pencils in Aline's direction.

"Yeah, well, same difference," Aline shrugged. "She's not here, so that leaves me in charge." Clary rolled her eyes with a grin as she leaned back in her chair and tossed the pencil onto the table, stretching her arms above her head. There was music playing from the iPod dock in the corner of the room, a Hayley Kiyoko song, and Aline bounced her foot in time with the music. "Seriously, have you seen how gorgeous this chick is?" Aline groaned as she reached the center of the magazine and tapped the page.

"Who?" Clary asked, her head tipped backwards with her eyes closed as she took in deep breaths.

"Isabelle Lightwood," Aline replied. "She's fucking beautiful."

"I wouldn't say that too loud," Clary laughed as she opened her eyes and looked over at her friend. "I'm friends with your girlfriend, remember?"

"Hey, my girlfriend would appreciate my fine taste," Aline retorted.

"Oh, I'm sure she would," Clary laughed. The smile on her face faded as she looked back down at the pages that were scattered across the desk in front of her. Her agent, Catarina Loss, had called her this morning, asking her if she had made any progress since they had last spoken, because the author and the agency that represented the author wanted to get the book on the shelves by the end of next month. So far, Clary was only half way through the the book now, and she had only just started on the cover. "I've got under two months to get this finished, and I'm completely uninspired," she stated.

"Then take a break," Aline stated, looking up from over the top of the magazine. "You can stare at the stunning Isabelle Lightwood with me, and maybe she will inspire you to do some more art work."

"Oh my god," Clary rolled her eyes with a laugh and got up from her chair, coming over to where Aline was sitting. "Let me see this girl that you seem to be in love with." Aline grinned and turned the magazine around for Clary to look at. The girl was beautiful, Clary could admit that. Flawless, tanned skin, long flowing hair, a body that was to die for. She looked vaguely familiar, so Clary was guessing that she had seen her in some other magazines as well. "What burger did you order me? No offence, but pretty girls don't inspire me as much as they seem to inspire you."

"I got you that chicken and bacon one that you like so much," Aline responded as she turned the magazine back around to flip through. There was the sound of the bell downstairs, someone at the front desk and pressing the buzzer, and she smiled. "That'll be it! I'll be right back." Aline skipped out of the room and Clary let out a groan as she walked back over to her desk. Aline and her mother ran the accounting firm downstairs, with two other employee's working for them. There was a tiny a room upstairs, more like just the size of a study, but it was well lit, light coming in through the large windows, and they were only going to use it for storage. Instead, Clary rented the place out for them, and used it as her work space. Clary changed the song that was playing and settled back down at her desk, and then her phone rang.

"Jace!" Clary cringed at how excited she sounded as she answered the phone, trying to reign back how peppy her voice sounded before continuing. "Hey—how's it going?"

"Clary, hi," Jace replied, his voice low and a little husky, and it did all kinds of things to her stomach, especially since the risque photos he had sent her a few weeks ago, changing their relationship. She swallowed hard as she waited for him to continue. "It's going well, I actually just had lunch with my mother."

"Yeah, I remember you mentioning that," Clary picked up another pencil, a teal coloured one, and started tracing the waves that she had begun to fill in at the bottom of the page. "How did it go?"

"It went great," Jace sounded happy, and she was glad, because so often when they spoke, she got the impression that he wasn't. He always sounded like he _wanted_ to be happy, and that he wanted her to think that he was, but there was something that just hung in his voice that didn't sound as though he was quite there. "Actually, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about." Clary frowned and waited for him to continue. "I'm..." he sounded a bit nervous. "I'm coming down your way—like, to your part of the country."

"You're coming to California?" Clary was so surprised she pressed her pencil so hard on the pad of paper in front of her so hard that the lead snapped and went skittering across her desk. "Why— _when_?"

"We've got a holiday home in Malibu," Jace continued. "So I'm coming down for a couple of days, maybe like a week or so. I was thinking that..." he trailed off and Clary was trying so hard not to start hyperventilating as she waited expectantly. "I was thinking that we could meet up. Me and you. I know that you've got a job, and you can't just take time off to come and see me, but I can come out to see you. I've got a car out there that I can drive out to your place, and we could—"

"Yes," Clary quickly said, breaking through his rambling. She licked her lips quickly and scratched behind her ear as she tried to take in a calming breath. "Yes, that would be great."

"Really?" Jace's voice was surprised, as though he had expected her to say no.

"Yeah—and don't worry about me needing to find time off work. I'm pretty much self-employed, so I can take some time off. I'm feeling..." she scrunched up her nose as she looked down at the paper in front of her. "I'm feeling pretty uninspired at the moment, maybe you coming down will help with that." Who was she kidding? Of _course_ him coming down would help that.

"Great!" She had to pull the phone away from her ear with how loud Jace's exclaim had been, and she let out a giggle. "Okay, so, uh—I'll let you know when I know times and everything, but it'll be in the next week or so."

"Awesome," the red head was starting to feel a little breathless.

"Okay, uh...Okay!" Jace let out a short laugh as well, and Clary laughed along with him. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Jace," Clary could barely contain her squeal of happiness until she hung up the phone. When she finally put it down on the desk, she jumped to her feet, wiggling her hips and throwing her head from side to side in barely contained glee. When she finally stopped, she was facing the door, where Aline was standing with two paper bags in her hands, watching with a wide grin on her face.

"You alright there?" She teased.

"Jace is coming to town," Clary blurted out and Aline raised an eyebrow, her grin getting wider, happy for her friend.

 _So usually this is the point where I tell you guys some movies and songs that I'm super into. Since this is my last post, I had some other things I wanted to say. But I did see the new_ Halloween _movie, and_ The House With A Clock In Its Walls _and_ Venom _, and they were all good, although Venom was a bit of a let down. Also, anyone else a GallaVich supporter? I stopped watching_ Shameless _a few seasons ago, when it started spiraling, but holy shit, tumblr when crazy with the reunion, and that totally made my day. It was amaaaazing. These two boys deserve each other, and I'm so glad they got a very...fitting send off :)_

 _Right, well..._

 _This year has been hard. I feel this year has been bad for everyone. There have been the numerous mass shootings, it feels as though there is just one natural disaster after another and there is the continual, completely legitimate distrust of authorities who are meant to be the ones protecting us. There are so many things that I could write in here and specifically comment on, but I don't want to make this a political statement, just a statement that wherever we are in the world, we are all struggling. There are so many people struggling at the moment, but today, my heart goes out to the people of Brazil, all people in the Jewish community and to the beautiful LGBTQA members of the world, especially the transgender community, and specifically those in America._

 _There have been good things as well, though! The rescue of the boys in Thailand, the proud, unapologetic statement that Colin Kaepernick's Nike campaign made, the decriminalization of homosexuality in India, the incredible organisation and unity in the March For Our Lives and the utter love and support shown by so many people in this world toward one another. This was just demonstrated yet again in the past few days with the non profit Muslim organisations who set up the online funding for those in the Jewish community affected by this one of the most recent horrific attacks._

 _This year has also been hard for myself personally, as I'm sure some of you are aware from my posts. My mental health is probably the worst it's ever been, I'm dealing with some relationship issues with my husband, I lost the friendship of someone that I considered very close after a betrayal that left me spinning and over the past few months, it's been the one year anniversary of the deaths of three people, who all died within a month of each other. I consider myself pretty open with you guys about my problems, and a big reason for that is because I know how lonely this huge world can feel sometimes. I just hope that with me putting myself out there, if you guys are dealing with something similar, then hopefully you know you're not alone. While I don't always have the best words, if any of you ever want to PM me just to get things off your chest, I'm here. I don't always know what to say, but sometimes just putting your problems into words can help, and I am more than happy to be that person for any of you xx_

 _Alright._

 _Well._

 _That was all very intense, but I felt it was necessary. I'm sorry if it felt as though I was crossing a line with any of it, but that's why I said at the top that if you didn't want to read all of this, just read by first authors note!_

 _Anyway._

 _I hope every single one of you has a safe and incredible and happy holidays with the people you love the most, and I will be back next year, probably early February. Here's to a better next year xx_


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, my beautiful, wonderful readers! It's early February, so as promised, here's an update! I hope you guys have had an amazing past few months, and I hope you're still interested in these stories! Just a quick heads up that I've uploaded some oneshots, and I do still have a couple to post, but I had so many requests to update my multi-chapters, so I thought I would update these before continuing with my editing, so there are some more to come!**

 **Anyway, here we go...**

Clary absolutely _loved_ her home.

She sort of just took it for granted when she was younger, thinking that everyone had been blessed to grow up in a place as beautiful as she did. It wasn't until she was older and understood just how lucky she was, that she appreciated everything she had been given, and the place where she had grown up in.

She only vaguely remembered where she had live before moving to the vineyard with Luke, when her mother was still with her biological father, Valentine. It had been a small house but nice enough. The thing was, she didn't remember all that much about the house itself, more about the yelling and shouting that filled the rooms whenever her father was home. Jocelyn took Clary and left when she was six, and they moved into the house that Clary currently lived in, at the end of the vineyard. Luke had been friends with Jocelyn since they were young, and it only took six months or so before they were seeing each other, and a year later, the two red heads were living up in the main house with Luke.

"Hey, Maggie!" Clary called out as she passed one of the workers who had been there since Luke's _father_ was running the vineyard, and the older woman lifted her hand and waved at Clary. Clary squeezed the accelerator of the quad bike and drove further among the rows of grapes that stretched on almost endlessly. It was getting near the end of the day, and the sun was sinking further in the sky, but it was still warm, and Clary needed some time outside to clear her head after her exchange with Jace today. She made her way down to the older vines, the ones that were well over twice her age, the ones that Luke looked after as though they were his own kids.

While they had machines on the vineyard that helped with the picking of grapes, Luke still believed a majority of the work should be done by hand. It was funny, given how big and successful the business was, but Luke would still be out _every single day_ amongest the thousands of rows of grape vines, picking grapes lovingly and even talking or singing to the plants occasionally. He said that picking the grapes by hand was soothing, and it took them back to their roots.

Jocelyn swooned whenever Luke said that, and then Clary rolled her eyes and had to leave them alone, because she knew that they were about to start making out like teenagers.

She slowed the quad bike to a stop and got off, and her shoes kicked up some of the dry dirt covering the ground. There hadn't been rain in a couple of weeks, and so their watering machines had been needed to brought in to make sure the grape vines. These particular vines got a lot of special attention, given some of them were almost seventy years old. They didn't yield anywhere near as much fruit as the younger vines, but the grapes that were picked from there created more concentrated flavor. There were only a couple of workers, along with himself, Jocelyn and Clary, that he trusted to pick from these vines. The grapes from these vines produced red wine, which wasn't her favourite, she preferred white, but she still absolutely loved picking the grapes. Clary took the basket off the back of the quad bike and set it down on the ground as she began.

Clary wasn't sure how long she was out there, but she was squinting and everything was in hues of grey and dark blue around her. She strapped the basket onto the back of the quad bike and flicked the lights on as she started the engine. She dropped the basket off at the big sheds so that they could be looked at and be queued for pressing tomorrow and then drove the bike up to Luke and Jocelyn's house.

"Mum!" Clary called out as she kicked off her dusty shoes just outside the door, where Luke and Jocelyn's boots were all piled up. "Dad—you guys home?!" Her voice echoed through the house, and she wondered if they were both out. The front door was unlocked, but that wasn't unusual, the front door was pretty much perpetually unlocked. There had been upgrades done to the house a few years ago, and there was now a small bathroom directly to the right when first going through the front door, so that hands and feet could be washed when coming in from the vineyard.

"Clary?" Jocelyn's voice sounded through the house as Clary was scrubbing her hands in the basin.

"Oh, hey," Clary smiled over at the older woman as she reached for the towel and dried her hands. "I thought that you guys might be out."

"No, just Luke," Jocelyn replied. "He's got some business meeting, so he's all dressed up in his monkey suit." Clary grinned, knowing how much Luke hated getting out of his dirty old sweatpants and trustee ol' henley and into a stiff suit and tie. "He tried to trick me into going, but I went last time. He's by himself tonight."

"You got anything to feed me with?" Clary grinned as she nudged her mum's arm with her elbow.

"Come on, baby," Jocelyn smiled, putting her arm around Clary's shoulder and leading her out of the small bathroom. The bathroom itself was the only small thing about this house, and that was just _this_ bathroom, all the other bathrooms were big. When Clary was little, her and her friends would play hide and seek, and it could literally take _hours_ to play, because there were so many places to hide. It was two-storied and sprawling, with wide hallways and expansive rooms, and the art work on the walls was a combination of photography from Jocelyn and paintings from Clary. They reached the kitchen, which was open plan, with a large, marble topped island in the centre. "So, since Luke isn't here," Jocelyn grinned as she went into the parlor to where the second fridge was. "I brought pizza when I was in town the other day and only had a couple of pieces. Want to finish it?"

"Yes!" Clary fist pumped the air as she climbed up onto one of the bar stools and made herself comfortable. "Although I'm pretty sure Luke hasn't been sticking to his diet, I saw him eating pasta the other day." She felt bad telling on Luke, but the last couple of check ups that he had had with the doctor had reported back that his cholesterol was a bit high, and Jocelyn had been trying to keep him on a strict diet to bring that back down.

It only worked _some_ of the time.

"Then I'll deal with him tomorrow morning," Jocelyn grumbled as she came back into the main kitchen with the box of pizza in her hand. "I spoke with Jon today, he said that it's been a while since the two of you have caught up."

"Well maybe if he wasn't gallivanting around the globe then we would be able to talk more often!" Clary rolled her eyes. Her brother, Jocelyn and Valentine's first born, was a travel blogger, and he was in a different country every other week as he bounced around, finding the best attractions and the hidden local gems. He was sponsored by dozens of travel companies and independent businesses who wanted him to come and visit their attractions and report back on them. "Nah, we've tried to set up a time to Skype but we just keep missing each other. We'll sort something out."

"He did say that the last time you spoke to him, you were talking about that online boyfriend of yours," Jocelyn was facing away from Clary, taking the slices of pizza out of the box and putting it onto the plate. But even though Clary couldn't see her mothers face, there was a slightly slyness in her tone that made it clear to Clary that she wanted to know more.

"You know he's not my boyfriend, mum," Clary reminded her with a roll of her eyes. "He's just a guy I'm talking to."

"Mm," Jocelyn hummed out as she put the plate in the microwave and turned it on, turning around to look at Clary. "You sure seem to talk to him a lot. And send him selfies. And I forgot to ask—how did he react when he got the video of you with Jordan a month or so ago?" Clary cringed and felt her cheeks go red at the memory. She still couldn't believe Lydia had taken that video and sent it to pretty much all of her contacts. Luckily it hadn't been sent to Jocelyn or Luke, but she and Lydia had been having lunch with her mother a week or so after the incident and Lydia had told her about it.

"He didn't really say anything," Clary responded. "But, uh," she licked her lips and looked down at her hands, which were clean from the dirt that they had gathered when she was plucking the grapes from the vines, but she concentrated hard on the cyan blue nail polish that was beginning to chip away. "He did actually call me today."

"Yes?" Jocelyn raised an eyebrow.

"He's, uh," Clary pursed her lips before spitting it out. "He's coming over." Jocelyn blinked, looking completely taken aback by that statement. "He's got a house in Malibu—or his parents do or something," she shrugged. "And he said that he was going to fly down and...Come out and see me?" Jocelyn stared at her for a long time, ignoring the beeps from the microwave indicating that the pizza had finished warming up.

"Well," she finally said. "That sounds serious."

"Not...Serious," Clary said carefully, crinkling her nose as she thought about it. She was definitely excited for Jace to come and see her, but worried as well. She knew that she made jokes from time to time about him coming out to see her part of the world given how, quite frankly, lonely and shut away he seemed at times, but she never thought he would actually take her up on it. And Jocelyn was right, in a way. It did make it seem serious. As much as she liked the guy—and she really, truly did—what if she just liked the idea of him, and was let down when she met him in person?

"Whatever happens...Whatever you decide, just be careful," Jocelyn said, leaning across the marble top of the counter and taking Clary's hands. "I know that this meeting people online or through app's—I know that this is _normal_ now. But I still want you to be careful. Please meet him in public, or here, where we are, and make sure you tell us, or Simon or Lydia."

"Mum," Clary smiled, feeling a little bit better already, just knowing that her mum wasn't one of those people who got completely over-protective and tried to stop her from living her life even though she didn't particularly agree with this decision. She was glad that she had a relationship with her mother where she was able to be open and talk about things like this. "It's going to be fine. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I'm walking into here," she tugged one hand free and rubbed her mothers shoulder. "I will be safe, I promise." Jocelyn stared at her for a few more beats and then nodded.

"Okay. Pizza time!"

 **Right! So, here's the super, super long A/N—sorry! I had a great Christmas and New Years time, not really doing much, just spending time at the beach and with my husband and with some of best friends. This year has started well, there's been a few bad days, but hey, happens to everyone. I hope your year has started just as good, and you spent it with family and friends if that's what you prefer, and that you spent it alone and quiet if that's what you prefer.**

 **I wanted to say that I managed to get around to most of peoples oneshots, at least the ones that struck a chord with me because some of prompts just aren't the type that I can write, and I had fun with the ones I wrote! You can still send me prompts or requests through the year, and I try and get to them near the end of the year when I focus on oneshots. Can be in a huge variety of fandoms, just ask me :)**

 **On with the recommendations!**

 **TV Shows: _Roswell: New Mexico_. Well. I loooved the original series, even if I can see a lot of flaws in it when watching it now back to when I was a teenager. I'm enjoying the reboot so far, I really like the change up in Liz, and Michael's relationship with Alex. I love that Tyler Blackburn from Pretty Little Liars is in it, and Michael Trevino from Vampire Diaries, because he was one of my favourite characters from VD. Anyway. Fingers crossed it goes well. And I intensely ship Max/Liz already, and not because I know they're supposed to get together, but because I love their chemistry, which is more than the original series, at least for my side. Oh and _The Runaways_ Season 2! I liked Gert a lot more in this one. Ooh, and _Sex Education_. That show is absolutely brilliant. Like, insanely brilliant. I'm so glad it's been renewed for another season. I also started watching _The Following_ for the hundredth time because this show is amazing.**

 **Music: _6 Figures_ by Kings, _Run Away With Me_ by Carly Rae Jepsen, _Old News_ by Mitch James, _Wasted_ by Jesse McCartney and _Bad_! by XXXTENTACION. Ooh, and _Saturday Nights_ by Khalid, _Bury A Friend_ by Billie Eilish and _Wild Enough_ by Elina.**

 **Movies: _Tomb Raider_ , which I watched for the second time the other week and I quite enjoyed it, a lot more than the first time I watched it. Alicia Vikander is a babe. Also _How To Train Your Dragon 3_. Holy shit. I knew this one was going to get me in the feels, but I didn't expect to cry twice. It was beautiful. Also the new _Robin Hood._ Maybe I'm biased because I love Taron Egerton, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as what the reviews said. I know it wasn't great, but I still enjoyed it, and Marian was a badass.**

 **Now, I've got some questions! Thought I'd change things up a little this year.**

 **So; what is your favourite song right now? Mine would be a tie between _Run Away With Me_ by Carley Rae Jepsen and _Back To Life_ by Hailee Steinfield.**

 **What is...Your favourite movie that you've seen recently? Mine would be _Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse_.**

 **Aaaand what is your favourite fandom to read in? For me it would be a tie between the DC fandom and _Harry Potter_ right now, although it changes frequently.**

 **Talk to me, let me know what you thought and answer the questions if you feel inclined to!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, beauties! I'm back for the second update of the year! Sorry, I meant for it to be sooner, but I have had a fucking full on past six weeks or so. There's been quite a few big events that have happened, a couple not to so great, but things are balancing back out. The biggest thing was a high speed car crash that me and my husband were in, but luckily, no one was hurt too badly. There were good things too, though, I've been to a few concerts, the highlights were Eminem and Drax Project. I think this is the first weekend I feel back on my feet, so I though it was the time to update!**

 **I hope everyone's start of the year is going well, and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

"Well, isn't this unexpected?" Isabelle teased as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and sent a smirk in their waiters direction. "Since when do _you_ want to meet up with _us_? Usually we're the ones dragging you out of your apartment and getting you some fresh air." Jace rolled his eyes and looked toward the bar that ran along one end of the wall. Alec had his long legs stretched out under the table, and he ran a finger down the side of the drinks menu as he looked over his choices.

"This place is looking good," Alec commented as he lifted his eyes from the menu and glanced around. "You and Sebastian have done a good job." This was one of the newer restaurants Sebastian and Jace had invested in, and they had actually completely overhauled the place, only opening a couple of months ago. The other restaurants were all high end, steeply priced and only ever open for dinner, with the few exceptions for being open throughout the day. This one, however, was a bit more family friendly, lower prices, and open from eleven in the morning onwards. Jace liked it, when they were consulting with a couple of specialists about the menu, it gave them a chance to put in lighter meals that they wouldn't with their other restaurants for dinner.

"Yeah, Seb's actually gonna be—" he broke off when he saw the blonde haired man finally come through the doorway from the kitchen, looking a little flushed from the heat. "There he is."

"Hey," Sebastian Verlac greeted them with a grin. "Fancy seeing all of you here."

"I know," Isabelle grinned back and got up from where she was seated to give Sebastian a tight, two armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. The two of them had been known to get together from time to time, but Sebastian's complete focus was with their restaurant business right now and Isabelle was completely wrapped up in her modelling, and so neither of them had much time to work around each other. "For once it was actually Jace who wanted to leave his hermit shell behind."

"Well, I wanted to tell you guys something, and I figured it was better to do it all together, get it all out of the way," Jace mumbled, trying to sound as though he wasn't all that bothered, but tapping his foot nervously under the table. Alec raised an eyebrow at him, Sebastian tipped his head to the side while he brushed flour off his shirt and Isabelle twisted one of the many rings on her fingers. He pursed his lips and scratched the side of his nose. "So, next week I'm going to Malibu."

"You came here to tell us you're taking a vacation from your pent house suite to go to Malibu?" Sebastian snorted.

"Wait," Isabelle leaned forward. "Are you going to Malibu to go to your holiday house? Or are you going to go to Malibu to—"

"See Clary?" Alec concluded. Jace could feel himself beginning to smile, and he bit down nervously on his lower lip before nodding his head a couple of times. Isabelle instantly let out a squeal, attracting the attention of a couple of other patrons at the restaurant, Sebastian didn't look too bothered either way while Alec was just staring across at Jace with his eyes narrowed. Jace felt his nervous smile beginning to fade as he waited for Alec's response. "Are you sure about this?" Jace swallowed hard as he looked down at the menu on the table in front of him, the words of the carefully created menu he and Sebastian had created dancing in front of them.

"I'm as sure as I'll ever be," Jace answered honestly. "I mean...Isabelle was right, and so was my mum...I think I could really like this girl, but the only way I'm going to find out is if I go and meet her. So...That's what I'm doing." Alec nodded a couple of times before cracking the smallest of smiles and leaning over to punch him lightly on the shoulder.

"If you're doing it because it's what you want to do," Alec shot a look over at his sister. "And not because you feel like you have to, then I'm happy for you, and I hope that it goes well." Jace nodded, relaxing a little. At least if Alec had his back, he knew that it was the right thing to do.

"It's not as though I see you around all that much anyway," Sebastian joked lightly. "But I have heard about this girl, and you've shown me a couple of those pictures, and she's cute."

"I'm glad you approve," Jace rolled his eyes and Sebastian grinned.

" _Anyway_ ," Sebastian said, looking back over toward the front of the restaurant where a group of people had just come in and were talking to the attendant, waiting to be seated. "Some of us have jobs calling, so I better get back in there. But you'll be back for the shareholder meeting at the end of the month, right?"

"I'm only planning on going for a couple days or so," Jace replied.

"Yeah, well, you never know. Might end up completely caught up in your redheads wiles," Sebastian winked and then got up, clapping Jace on the shoulder and giving a farewell smile to the rest of the table before heading back behind the bar. The waiter seemed to take that as his cue to come over and take their order, his eyes lingering on Isabelle—and Isabelle's long legs that were barely covered by the pair of black, leather shorts that she was wearing—before he finally stumbled away.

"When do you leave?" Isabelle asked as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and directed her attention back at her cousin.

"I'm taking dad's jet down tomorrow afternoon," Jace said, feeling the nerves in his stomach begin to clench to the point of feeling like he was going to throw up as he said it out loud. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to be meeting Clary in just a couple of days time. "And then I'm going to take one of the cars there and drive up to her place. It's about two hours out of Malibu when I was searching it on google maps." Isabelle let out another squeal, wriggling in her seat.

"I'm so excited for you," she was practically vibrating. "You have to make sure you take heaps of photos of your guys together—oh my god, and call me and let me know _exactly_ what happens in your first meeting. I want you to text me..." Isabelle kept on chattering, but Jace zoned out, his fingers tapping out a rapid beat on his knees as he thought about his trip the following day, and then his meeting on the subsequent day.

With Clary.

* * *

A town car picked Jace up early afternoon, and he carried out the two bags that he had packed. He had agonized long and hard about how much to pack; he didn't want to be presumptuous and pack way too much, but then he also didn't want to be unprepared, and only pack enough for a few nights. So he compromised, packing most of his favourite clothes, reasoning that he could always buy more if he ended up staying longer than he expected. He had barely been able to sleep the night before, tossing and turning, and his phone had been strangely silent, only getting one message from Clary, wishing him a safe flight the next day.

The airport where his father's jet had been flown in for him was a public one, but he was ushered into the private portion of the building, and was escorted into the hanger by one of the security guards, where the jet was parked. The flight was smooth, took just about six and a half hours, and the change in climate was noticeable when they landed in the Malibu airport. One of the stewards tried to take his bags, but he just gave them a tight smile as he took the bags in his hands and walked off the plane. There was a car waiting for him, that took him straight to their Malibu house.

It had been a long time since anyone had been to their holiday house, but Stephen's assistant had called ahead, and asked for the place to get restocked by a couple of the people who looked after the house while they were out and about.

Jace didn't know what to do with himself as he walked around the Malibu house. It was right on the edge of the water, but it was already dark now, given the long flight and he was lucky that it was only a three hour time difference, so there wasn't too much to adjust to. Even though he had only gotten a few hours sleep last night, he still wasn't feeling tired now, wired up and pacing in the lounge.

He wanted to message Clary, wanted to send her a photo of the view he had of the beach outside the window, tell her that they were in the same part of the country. But she hadn't messaged him since the day before—the longest that they had gone without speaking to each other. She was nervous, he could understand that, and so was he.

Maybe it was best they have some time apart to breath before they were suddenly thrown together. _For real_.

* * *

It felt good to be behind the wheel of a car again. Living in the city, there wasn't much point in having a car, not with how busy the streets could get, so he took a town car most places. But they had two cars that they kept at the Malibu house, and Jace enjoyed the feeling of power humming underneath his fingertips as the silver Ferrari ate up the road beneath them, following the direction on the GPS toward the address Clary had given him. He had messaged her this morning, sending her a photo as he had gotten behind the wheel of his car, telling her that he was on his way. She hadn't even responded with a photo, just a text message saying to carry on down the long driveway to the left, past the vineyard, until he reached the house at the end.

The countryside was absolutely gorgeous, Jace hadn't been to the Malibu in a long time, and he had never even driven in the direction that he was going now. He knew that he should be drinking in the scenery, but all he could think about was getting to Clary. The two hour drive seemed to stretch on for a whole day, but he finally saw a big red and grey sign, announcing _Garroway Estate_.

Jace actually had to slow the car down and pull over to take a couple of deep breaths, fingers flexing around the steering wheel. He felt so nervous that his stomach was twisting and he thought that he was going to throw up. In the end, he didn't throw up, but he was pretty sure if he had managed to eat more than just half an apple this morning, he would have.

There were a couple of cars parked outside the gorgeous, expansive house that he came across first when driving down the dusty driveway, but he took the road to the left, just like Clary said, and carried on past the sprawling vineyards. He caught sight of a couple of people hidden among the orderly grape vines, and he tensed his hands around the wheel of his car as he kept on driving. He was starting to wonder if maybe he should give Clary a call, see if he was heading in the right direction, but then the dusty road changed to gravel, and it opened up to where a car was parked, and a quad bike.

And there was her house.

He had seen photos of it sent on snapchat a hundred times, the views from the front porch, glimpses of it when they were talking as she walking home, and now it was right there, in front of him.

And then the front door opened, and Jace slammed his foot on the brakes.

 **Down to my recommendations! _AM_ by One Direction, which I will always love. _Chasing Ghosts_ by Against The Current, _How Could I Forget_ by MKTO, _Woke Up Late_ by Drax Project featuring Hailee Steinfield, and _Leave Me Lonely_ by Hilltop Hoods. Also _Cosby Sweater_ by Hilltop Hoods. An _Whatchamacallit_ by Ella Mai featuring Chris Brown. Ooh, and also _Before I Go_ by Guy Sebastian, which was suggested to me by a guest, and I love, so a big thank you to that guest!**

 **In the TV series/movies area...Hm, _Tidelands_ which is on Netflix. I really enjoyed that, and I hope there's a second season. _Body Guard_ , even though my husband now randomly shouts out, " _Vicky! I'm innocent!"_ at the most inappropriate time. _Queen of the South_ which is absolutely incredible. Holy shit incredible and recommended to all. _Umbrella Academy_ as well, my holy trinity is Klaus, Diego and Ben. Loved them. I have incredibly mixed feelings about Vanya and Luthur can suck a dick. Haven't seen many movies recently, although I'm in the middle of _Molly's Game_ right now and it's pretty good. I preferred _Miss Sloane_ , but this is still good.**

 **Now, down to my questions...**

 **Well, well, well.**

 **Okay—what is the first song you remember learning? Not _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ or the _ABC's_ or anything, but the first pop or rock song. Mine was _Who Let The Dogs Out._ Hahahaha. I came home from school one day singing it when I was about five or six, and my parents didn't believe me until it came on the radio.**

 **Who is someone that you would love to see in concert? I have so many, but I think the ones at the top would be The Pretty Reckless, In This Moment, Camila Cabello, Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga and Louis Tomlinson.**

 **And...Hm...Who is a celebrity that you have changed your mind about? Either you really liked and now you don't, or didn't like and now you do? Mine would be Bella Thorne, I used to find her really annoying and a bit trashy, but now I love her, including all her trashiness. And I used to really like Chris Pratt, and now I really don't.**

 **Okay!**

 **Let me know what you think, and let me know if you want a preview xx**


	14. Chapter 14

Clary got up from her the seat that she had been sitting at, nervously twitching at her kitchen table, and went to the front door as soon as soon as she heard a car coming down the driveway, it's tyres crunching on the gravel. She had barely gotten any sleep since Jace had told her that he was going to come down at visit her, and then last night she had gotten absolutely _none_ at all, given she was so nervous and excited. And now he was here, and her palms were feeling sticky with sweat as she reached her front door and opened it up.

The first thing that she noticed was the car. She didn't know much about cars, but she knew that it was expensive. _Very_ expensive. She shook her head and turned her head toward the drivers door, which opened. Clary took one step down from her deck and then almost completely missed the next step as Jace stepped out of the car.

He. Was. Gorgeous.

He looked even better than he had in the snapchats that she had gotten from him. If she was being totally honest, she had kind of hoped that he wasn't _as_ beautiful as the pictures that he had sent her—good lighting could do wonders—because if he was, and then he met her in person, she felt as though he would realize that he was in a _complete_ league of his own. He was wearing a pair of jeans that looked faded, but were clearly meant to look that way, a light red, v-neck shirt and when he took off his sunglasses, he hooked one of the arms into the v of the shirt so that they folded there. His hair was longer than she had initially thought, an inch or so above his shoulders. It was golden coloured, looked like it had a couple of lighter coloured streaks through it, and it caught in the sun as he slammed the door shut and stared up at her.

"Jace," she finally managed to say, stepping down once more onto the lowest step, her legs feeling a shaky.

"Clary," he nodded at her, and then smiled, biting down on his lower lip as though he was as nervous as her. That small gesture made her feel better and and she stepped down once more so that she was on the ground, her bare feet on the gravel. It was a hard underneath her feet, the small stones digging into the flesh of her soles, but her feet were hardened, used to running around through the vineyards without shoes protecting them.

"Was the place hard to find?" She asked, feeling awkward, not too sure what she was meant to say. Conversation had always been so easy between them when it was over the phone, but being faced with him right now, she was caught off guard.

"No, it was fine," Jace responded, looking around. There was open wonderment and appreciation on his face as he turned slowly in a circle, drinking in the sights around him. "It's absolutely gorgeous here," he breathed out, and Clary only barely heard what he said, since he was facing away from her when he said it. He finally circled right back around until he was facing Clary, and she gave him a bit wider of a smile. "I'm glad that I finally made it here."

"So am I," Clary answered, and despite how nervous she felt, it was completely true. Jace stared at her, as though he wasn't quite processing what he was seeing, and Clary really hoped that he wasn't disappointed by what she looked like. "Uh, that's a gorgeous car. Did you rent it in Malibu?"

"Nah," Jace glanced at the car beside him, not appearing too impressed by it. "We have a couple of vehicles that stay at the Malibu house for when we come down here."

"So it just stays there?" Her eyes went wide at the idea, but Jace seemed confused by her reaction, shrugging. "All that money on a car and it just sits there?"

"Yeah, I guess some of the people that mum and dad have looking after the house will make sure it gets driven every now and then so that it's kept in good shape," he fiddled with the keys in his hands, looking a bit uncomfortable by the way she was looking at him and Clary tried to reign in her disbelief, reminding herself that she had _known_ Jace lived a completely different life style to hers.

"Uh, okay, well," she looked over her shoulder, back toward her house. "Did you want to come in?"

"That'd be great," Jace looked relieved at the change of topic. Clary gave him a smile and turned to jog back up into her house. Jace followed, taking in everything in his path. He could make out the back of what he assumed was her car, parked around the side of her bike, and there was a quad bike, the wheels spattered in dirt, parked alongside it. The house that Clary lived in was definitely smaller than the big, flash one he had passed near the front of the vineyard, but it was still beautiful. It was an older house, with a wooden deck out the front with a swing chair on one side with some worn outdoor cushions and then a small table with two chairs on the other side. There were flowers growing in little patches of grass on the side of the steps leading up the deck, and there was a grey and white cat with one of it's ears torn sitting on the wooden railing of the deck, it's head tipped to the side as it observed him.

"That's Bucky," Clary said with a grin. "He was a stray, just kind of showed up one day."

"I know," Jace nodded, and Clary's grin grew. Bucky featured a lot in the snapchats that she sent, usually looking unimpressed as she tried to take cute selfies with him.

"Come on," she jerked her head toward the house, and Jace followed her inside. The door opened straight into the kitchen, which looked very similar to the way that he imagined from the pictures she had sent him. There was a warmth in the house, though, that wasn't able to be portrayed in pictures, and he instantly felt it surround him. The room just felt so filled with life, with it's mismatched furniture, brightly coloured paintings, photos and art work hanging off the walls in the adjoining lounge and a small planter along the window above the sink. "Did you want something to drink? Or eat?" Jace was about to shake his head and refuse, but then his stomach grumbled loudly, and Clary let out a laugh.

 _Shit_.

It sounded so good to hear her laugh in person, rather than just in a ten second clip on snapchat or over the phone.

"I..." Jace wondered how much he should admit to her. But then, over the phone, he had been completely comfortable with Clary, and that was why he was _here_. Because he wanted to get to know her better. So he licked his tongue over his lower lip nervously and decided he'd go with the truth. "I might have been so nervous that I could barely eat anything this morning. So yeah, I'm pretty hungry." Clary's expression shifted, from a wide grin to a smaller, more sincere smile.

"I know the feeling," she answered honestly, and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink colour as she turned back to her bench. "I'll cut us up some fruit, and do you want tea or coffee?"

"Coffee would be great," Jace replied.

"It'll just take a few minutes, you can look around if you want," she waved her hand toward the lounge as she busied herself. Jace nodded and walked into the lounge, hands shoved his pockets as he looked around. Bucky and a calico cat were in the lounge, play fighting with each other and not paying any attention to Jace as he looked at the paintings on the wall.

"How many cats you got?" Jace asked, wanting to keep the conversation going between the so it didn't fall into awkward silence.

"Bucky is mine, he was a stray that I found a year or so ago," Clary replied as she opened the door for her fridge. "But there's about ten or so cats that live here, they help with any rats or mice or other vermin that try to get into the vineyard and into the sheds. Sometimes they'll end up in here." Jace nodded, his eyes shifting to the big bookshelf in the corner of the room, which was filled with DVD's, haphazardly shoved in. One of them— _Lady Midnight_ —was one that starred his mother, and then another one— _Clockwork Prince_ —which had actually starred both of his parents, one of their many collaborations. "Do you take milk or sugar?"

"One sugar, no milk," Jace answered, turning back to go into the kitchen where she had two bowls filled with fresh fruit, and then put a cup of coffee down in front of him. There were blueberries and watermelon and strawberries, and it looked amazing but Jace couldn't help but stare at Clary as she poured herself a cup of juice and then came over to sit down at the table opposite him. She picked up a fork and stabbed at one of the sliced strawberries, biting into it before looking up at Jace and catching his eyes. She raised her eyebrows at him and then nodded down at the bowl.

"You gonna eat or what?" She asked him and Jace felt himself grin at her, picking up his own fork and starting on the food in front of him. The silence was comfortable as they ate, and the coffee was good—clearly not the expensive beans that he used back at home, but it was still good, and the fruit was amazing. It all tasted so fresh, which was so much better than what money could buy in the city. "You're gonna need to show me photos of your house in Malibu, so I can see how the other half live," she was teasing, and there was a smile on her face.

"Doesn't seem as though you are doing so badly yourself," Jace commented as he looked out the window at the sprawling vineyards.

"Yeah, we do okay," Clary nodded with a half smile. "Do you have a time frame for how long you're going to be staying?"

"Nah," Jace finished off the fruit in his bowl and pushed it away from the edge of the table. "Haven't really thought about it."

"Oh right, Mr Rich Boy," Clary smirked at him. "Don't have a job." Jace nodded his head once, hoping that his wealth wasn't going to be something that they focused on. Not because he thought that was what Clary liked about him, or because he thought that this was what she was after, but because he didn't want it to be something that divided them. Clary finished off her own fruit and her juice before looking out her window with a smile. "You want to check out the vineyard?"

"Sounds perfect," Jace nodded.

 **I've written this about four times now, and I'm just going to keep it simple.**

 **On the 15th of March 2019, there was a terrorist attack in my beautiful country, New Zealand. This is the first ever mass shooting on this level during peace time in the beautiful islands that I have spent my whole life in.**

 **This doesn't happen here. We don't have mass shootings. We don't have a fear of one another to the point where it drums up anger that turns to hate.** **In the words of our absolutely incredible Prime Minister, " _They are us_."**

 **We are all one people, and we can't let hate win.**

 **I hope you all spend time with people that you love and cherish, and I hope you never hold back to show this.**

 **Arohanui and Kia Kaha x**


	15. Chapter 15

"Uh," Jace blinked at the quad bike, missing the way Clary grinned widely at the expression on his face.

"Such a city boy," she teased lightly as she swung a leg over the seat of the bike, getting herself comfortable and resting her feet on the metal footrests, sliding her feet back and forth to allow her shoes to find the proper grip they needed. "Get on," she encouraged him, jerking her head backward.

"Just...Climb on behind you?" Jace squinted behind Clary as though he wasn't quite sure how it was going to work.

"It's fine," Clary assured him with a grin, patting the seat behind her. "Just get on behind me, put your feet behind mine, and you can either hold me around my waist, or hold onto the metal bars on either side of you." There were metal bars over the plastic wheel covers behind where Clary was seating, and there were a couple of thin ropes tied around one of the bars and some dried dirt flaking off another one. " _Trust me_ , come on," she laughed at his hesitation, patting the vinyl seat behind her. She was wearing a pair of jeans that were ripped at the knees—not the kind that had been fashionably done and cost a thousand dollars, but that were well worn and fitted to her body. The tank top she was wearing was similar, faded from use and probably sun light, given the way she seemed to live, and there were a couple of paint spots that were stained into the hem.

"Okay," Jace didn't sound totally confident in his decision, but he did a weird sort of hop-skip, and got a leg over the seat behind her. Given he was further up the back of the seat, it was more awkward for him to get comfortable, but he shuffled around and put his feet behind hers on the plastic footrests.

"You good?" Clary asked, twisting her head to look at him over her shoulder.

"Yup," Jace jerked his head in a nod. He had thought about putting his arms around her waist, like she had suggested, but it had just seemed too familiar, and so he gripped at the metal bars on either side of himself, shifting around some more to make sure he was holding on tightly.

"Just relax," Clary laughed again, and he could see her shoulders shaking as she did so, the braid that she had pulled her hair into bouncing slightly. "I won't go _too_ fast," she was teasing him, but he really didn't care, it was in a friendly way. She turned the key in the engine, which had just been left in the quad bike, and then she started the bike, turning it around slowly so that they were facing the vineyard, rather than her house. "Ready?" She called over the rumble of the engine. "You sure you don't want me to get you a helmet?"

"I'm fine," Jace said, raising his voice a little to match hers, already feeling adrenaline beginning to pump through his veins, as she started driving a little bit faster up the gravel driveway. They got to the fork in the drive, where it split between the driveway to Clary's house and another gravel drive. She spun the quad bike sharply—clearly knowing her way around the property and the bike well—but Jace felt himself draw in a sharp breath, and he changed his grip, quickly swapping his hands from the metal bars to her hips. It was just something he _did_ without thinking, and it wasn't until Clary wiggled around, leaning back into him a bit more that he realized how close they were now pressed.

They drove for what seemed like hours.

Clary showed him around the sheds near the bottom of the property, slowing the bike to a stop and pointing things out to him. He didn't totally understand everything she was talking about—it all got a little bit technical, all he really processed was that grapes went in, and then wine came out—but he was more than happy to listen. He was still finding it hard to believe that her face was only inches away from his, and he could actually smell her hair, and that he could feel her body twisting from side to side as they made their way through the rows of blooming vines.

There were people spotted throughout the vineyard, they passed by maybe five or six of them, all who yelled out greetings and waved at Clary. She waved back, steering the bike with only one hand. As she promised, she didn't accelerate too quickly, but it was clear that she was holding back. Maybe next time they went on the quad bike, Jace would tell her that she could go as fast as she wanted, but he still felt a bit vulnerable and unprotected, out in the open as the farm bike drove on. It was hot, and he knew that there was sweat beading at his forehead and trickling down his back, but it felt good, the wind whipping at his cheeks and through his hair.

The sun was high in the sky, and it must have been sometime after one o'clock in the afternoon when Clary stopped the quad bike underneath a cluster of trees. Clary got off the bike first, stretching her arms out above her head and bending her knees a couple of times. Jace got off the back of the bike as well, feeling a little stiff as he bent his knees, stretching out his thighs, mimicking Clary.

"Come on," Clary grinned at him, waving her hand at him to follow. There were trees surrounding most of the outskirts of the vineyard, all of them green and leafy, but they seemed a lot more dense in this section. "This is right on the edge of our vineyard and the homestead next door. Me and Simon used to come here all the time when we were little, our mums would bring us here." Jace was about to ask what was so special about this place, but then they broke through the last of the trees and bushes and there was a watering hole in front of them. "We still come here heaps, but we've been careful only to tell a couple of people about it," Jace blinked in surprise as she started taking off her shoes. "Because it's so far out from the house, we wouldn't know if people started sneaking in here and swimming here, and then it would get all polluted and shit, people would leave rubbish behind and stuff. So pretty much just me, Simon, Lydia, Maia and Jordan come down here." She was then pulling off the socks that she had been wearing, tucking them into her shoes.

"What are you doing?" Jace asked, already pretty certain he knew what was happening, but not really believing it until she gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. She was wearing a simple grey and green bra, and she didn't look ashamed as she faced away from him.

"Going for a swim," she told him with a grin. Jace blinked again, he couldn't quite believe the fact that she was just getting _undressed_ in front of him. She then started working on the button and zipper of her jeans, and she slid them off, over her ass that Jace had been _trying_ not to stare at, and then crumbled at the ground around her feet, in the dirt. "What? You scared of going for a swim in water that's not all chlorinated and heated?" She was standing there, only in bra and underwear, and she looked amazing.

Not like a hundred of other girls that he had been surrounded with as he grew up, or the girls that he had been with before.

She had obvious tan lines on her legs from what looked like mini shorts, her upper thighs more pale than the rest of her stomach. There were a couple of scars on her knees, they looked like the kind of scars that the every day kid might get when learning to ride a bike, and there was another scar that was faded on her waist. There was a light smattering of freckles on her chest and over her shoulders, where there more tan lines, probably from tops similar to the tank top that she was wearing today. All signs of a life that was being lived well.

Not perfect.

But amazing.

"No, I'm gonna be right after you," Jace managed to catch up with the program, struggling out of his shoes and the jeans that he was wearing. The ground around the water hole was all damp mud, and it squidged between his toes when his feet hit the ground. He had a fleeting thought about his clothes, which were probably going to need a good wash when he got back home, but then Clary was running toward the water and letting out a shriek as she jumped in, and all thoughts about his clothes were gone. His run toward the water hole was a bit slower and more hesitant than Clary, but the pull toward her and the trust that he had in her was strong, and so despite how nervous it made him, he jumped off the edge of embankment and splashed into the water.

The ground was slimy between his toes and he couldn't help the cringe that crossed his face. Clary obviously found that hilarious because she laughed, the musical sound bouncing off the water and around the reasonably closed in space. The water felt good, it was cool but not cold, slightly warmed from the heat of the day. Clary dunked her head under the water and came back up with her hair wet and plastered to her head. She was laughing, eyes sparkling and they were only half a metre apart or so.

Jace reached out in the water for where he assumed her hand was, because he couldn't see past the few inches in the water, and luckily managed to find her wrist. Clary's smile faded a little, but it didn't seem to be in a bad way. He tugged her wrist lightly, so that if she wanted to pull away, she could. But she didn't she stepped toward him, and her teeth closed down on her lower lip, her eyes flickering down to his mouth before back up to his eyes.

"This, um..." Jace swallowed hard as he lowered his head toward hers. "This isn't just me...Reading this wrong...Right?" Clary's lips quirked at that and she shook her head quickly.

"You're not," she mumbled before she closed the gap between them, their mouths coming together.

 **Alright! Recommendations, as per usual...Of course I have to say _Sucker_ by the Jonas Brothers, because those boys were part of my childhood! And then _Angel_ by Theory of a Deadman, which I haven't heard in yeeears. Also Side Bit by Drax Project, who are incredible. And thennnn _Hostage_ and _Bellyache_ by Billie Eilish. I like a lot of her songs anyway, but those are my favourites. Ooh, and _Blue Jeans_ by Sofia Karlberg.**

 **Also, related to music, please, please, PLEASE check out the Vevo Live version of _Who Do You Love?_ by 5SOS and Chainsmokers. I wasn't too keen on the song the first time I heard it, even though generally I adore 5SOS, but I liked the music video, and then the Vevo live version is fucking awesome, I've watched it so many times. Haha. Calum is just so beautiful, Ashton has always been my favourite, and then Luke and Michael, well...I don't generally ship real people, but let me tell you, I can definitely see why people ship them together. Haha. And Luke's glow up from twink to daddy was...Well, intense. Haha. He has killer style now, I love it.**

 **Um, _Instant Family_ was a great movie! Everything I hoped it would be. I've also recently started watching _Flack_ with Anna Paquin and _The Resident_ , and I definitely recommend both! And also _Fear The Walking Dead_ —I never really got into the _The Walking Dead,_ but I've really gotten into this one. My heart belongs to Nick and Alicia. And then also _Discovery of Witches_ , even though I haven't finished the first season yet. But I really liked it. I got sort of trashy, worse-than- _Twilight_ vibes from the trailer and wasn't really feeling it, but it surprised me and I'm really enjoyed it.**

 **Okay! My questions this week aaaare;**

 **What is something you did today that you're proud of yourself for? Could be anything! Mine could be I didn't cry today. Haha. Nah—I shaved my legs! It's been a while, and given we're still hot weather and I'm wearing skirts to work, it's a bit overdue. It's a small thing but, buddy, we gotta be happy over the small things!**

 **What is the last show you watched? I don't care if it was something playing in the background, or something you were watching with your kids that's annoying—just put it in there. Haha. I'm currently watching Strike Back, which I've recently gotten into. Good for some background distraction as I type. Actually, in the time between typing this and then posting it, I've actually moved onto Jeremy Kyle now. Hahaha. Always great.**

 **And the last one is, did the news of the Shyland engagement rock your world or was it just me? Hahaha. Me and my best friend were squealing when we saw it on snapchat and twitter, I adore Shane and Ryland.**

 **My Tumblr is SereneCalamity, and my Twitter is CalamitySerene if you want to chat x**


	16. Chapter 16

Jace would have been happy to spend the rest of the month in the water hole, learning every single crevice of Clary's mouth and listening to her talk and laugh. After their initial kiss, Clary seemed content to splash around in the water, laughing and telling Jace about different things that had happened here. Simon thinking that it would be a good idea to bring his first serious girlfriend there for somewhere private to loose their virginities. Lydia hiding out here after she had gotten her first tattoo because she was too scared to go home and face her parents. Clary and Lydia both getting so drunk on a smuggled bottle of whiskey that they had fallen into the watering hole and had been dragged out by a very frantic Luke and Jocelyn. The pair had been grounded for a month, meaning they missed their Junior prom.

Jace knew that he was going to go back to his holiday house that night and he was going to think over everything that he had seen and heard today, repeating every single laugh of hers over and over again, hoping to burn it into his head.

He had had a childhood that he knew was special. There were a lot of advantages that he had been given, being born into a family with so much money, he had the best education and got given pretty much anything he wanted. But there was a price that it came with, and he had paid that with the spiral that he had fallen into. At the time, he had blamed everyone except himself, but as time had passed, he had taken on a more mature outlook.

After the sun had sunk further in the sky and the air had cooled a little, they got out of the water and had to put their dry clothes back on without actually drying, which was never fun. Clary had laughed as she watched him stumble, trying to put his socks back on his wet feet, while she didn't even bother with her socks, shoving them into her back pocket as she put her feet into her shoes.

"Come on, city boy," Clary grinned as she got on the quad bike. "Let's get you back and I'll find something for you to throw on." Her shirt was sticking to her skin, almost completely see through as it absorbed the water from her body, and Jace tried not to think about how warm her body felt in front of him, against the cool air of the evening. If he thought about that too much, together with how good her lips felt, it would be _far_ too hard to try and control himself.

They didn't pass anyone on the way back, and when they got back to the house and he checked the time on his phone, he realized that the reason they didn't see anyone was because it was after five, the workers must have gone home. Clary found a dry tee-shirt for him to put on, it was a bit too big for him and had a weird design on the front and writing in Japanese.

"It's Jordan's," Clary said as she saw him looking down quizzically at the shirt. "Some weird comic book that him and Simon are into." Jace gave her a half smile and nodded. "I don't think I've got any pants..." she pursed her lips as she thought but Jace shook his head.

"It's all good, these are pretty much dried now, and it's not that cold," Jace told her.

"Great," Clary smiled. "I'm just going to change, and then I'll start on dinner," she faltered and her smile hesitated slightly. "Oh, that's if you wanted...To stay for dinner?" Jace nodded quickly—far too quickly to even pretend that he had ever planned differently. Clary's smile was back, shining brightly, and she nodded. "Awesome, I'll be back in a sec." She disappeared down the short hallway, and then into what he assumed was her bedroom. Jace licked his lips, rubbing them together as he walked around the kitchen. Bucky was sitting on the kitchen table, licking his paw and not showing much interest at all as Jace stopped in front of the fridge. There were some photos that were slapped on with magnets, and he recognized a couple of the people in the pictures with Clary. Simon featured in almost all of them, along with Lydia. "So I was thinking just garlic prawns and spaghetti?" Clary said as she came back into the room.

"That sounds great," Jace said with a smile. "What do you want me to do?" Clary set him to work quickly, mincing the garlic and parsley. He saw the way she raised eyebrows as he worked with the knife she had given him, and he bit back his smile, maybe a little gleeful at the impressed expression on her face. He hadn't told her about the fact he was actually a qualified chef, just like he hadn't told her who his parents were, because how exactly is that dropped into conversation? Oh, yes, and I co-own a couple of the most successful restaurants in New York?

"I think there's some cream in the fridge, can you grab that out?" Clary asked as she began to take the shells off the prawns.

"Yeah," Jace replied, looking over at her and pressing his lips together.

"You got something to say?" Clary asked with an arched eyebrow, pausing her work.

"Uh," Jace paused, and then shrugged. "Have you ever cooked the prawns with the tails on?" He asked.

"Nope," Clary shook her head. "I don't eat the tails—is that something that you fancy boys do?"

"No," Jace snorted and shook his head. "But if you cook them in their shells, it locks in more flavor. Pull them off afterwards, before you're mixing it with the pasta." Clary tilted her head the side and shrugged, but there was a contemplative look on her face. "You can also save the tails, they still have a ton of flavor, make shrimp butter."

"So...You cook?" She asked, squinting her eyes.

"I...Dabble," Jace answered slowly.

"Dabble?" Clary mocked him, before stepping back. "Okay...Rich boy," she dragged out the nickname, and he liked the way her lips looked as they shaped the words. "I'm not all that great at the cooking, and I'm really not all that good in the kitchen, but I absolutely _love_ eating. You seem to enjoy cooking...You want to take over?" Jace knew that the eagerness was clear on his face as he nodded.

He was good at cooking.

He could do that.

And if he impressed her while doing, well, that was an added bonus.

Clary grinned and left what she was doing, sitting down at the kitchen table, propping her legs up on the edge of her seat and resting her chin on her knees. She chattered as he learnt his way around her kitchen. Despite the fact she said she didn't like cooking, she had all of the ingredients that he needed, except spring onion, which he could do without, since it was really just for garnish. This time Clary talked about her brother, who was a travel blogger. Apparently Clary had flown out a couple of times to join him, staying with him a couple of weeks—once in Australia, another time in Switzerland, and the last time in Peru. She told Jace that she didn't like travelling as much as her brother, she liked being home and surrounded by the familiar, but she still enjoyed seeing the sights and especially spending time with her brother.

Dinner didn't take long to cook, and after Jace had thrown it all together in the frying pan, tossing it a couple of times to make sure everything mixed in, Clary got up and slid a couple of bowls along the bench to him. He filled both the bowls and then handed one over to her.

"So..." Clary took in a deep breath. "This smells orgasmic."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Jace smirked.

"The way you handled yourself in the kitchen as well...Makes me think you're quite used to cooking. Which is strange for someone who I know can absolutely afford to never have to raise a finger to cook in his life," Clary noted as she found them forks, handing one over to Jace and then leading the way outside. Jace followed her, taking a moment to stare out at the way the sun was setting behind the hills in the distance, casting shadows over the vineyard, streaks of orange and gold breaking through.

"Shit," he breathed and Clary glanced over at him questioningly. "It's fucking gorgeous here," he told her.

"I know," Clary smiled and tipped her head to the right as she made herself comfortable in the wooden chair, putting her bowl down on the table. "I couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else." Jace completely agreed with her—if he lived here, he would never want to leave.

They talked until the sun had completely gone down and it was dark. They talked about Isabelle and Alec, about Simon and Lydia, about the TV series that Clary was completely enamored by that Jace had surprisingly not seen yet, and about Bucky, who ambled out of the house to try and lick the remaining cream from their bowls. There was light coming inside, where he had left it on in the kitchen, and Jace realized that it was going to be nearing eleven by the time he got home. It wasn't exactly late, but he really hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and he was planning on driving right back here tomorrow morning, so he should probably get home soon.

"I think I better head off," Jace said regretfully as they took their bowls inside and Clary started running water into her sink.

"Since you cooked, I guess I can let you off the dishes," Clary smiled, before glancing out the window. "Just be careful driving back, I know you're not used to being the one behind the wheel." Jace's heart warmed at the sincere look on her face. "Text me when you get back to your mysterious mansion in Malibu."

"It's not a mansion," Jace rolled his eyes, trying to hide his smile.

"Whatever you say," Clary shrugged. "You're...Coming back tomorrow?"

"Of course," Jace nodded. "You're the reason I'm down here, of course I'm coming back tomorrow." Clary bit down on her lower lip, and it was so cute that he couldn't stop. He leaned forward, kissing her gently, tugging on that bottom lip that she seemed to worry at least once an hour. Clary stiffened at first, and then relaxed, her body soft against his. Jace wanted to deepen the kiss, but he stopped himself, telling himself that they had plenty of time for that later.

"Maybe tomorrow you could bring a change of clothes, just in case you wanted to...Stay the night or something," Clary shrugged as they finally pulled apart. Jace nodded, not pulling his face away, so that his nose bumped against hers, and as his head shifted upward, his lips brushed over the tip of her nose. Her eyes closed for a moment before she leaned back, flat on her feet, and smiled at him. "Text me to let me know you got back to your place safe, okay?"

"I will," Jace nodded, finding his keys where he had tossed them on the bench. He didn't want to leave her small house, with the warm and colourful atmosphere, but he gave her a final smile, and then jogged down the steps to his car. He could see her watching him from the window, and it wasn't until he was out of sight, down the driveway, that he let out a loud ' _whoop_ ', smiling so widely it almost broke his face in two.

 **So my song recommendations this week... _Polygraph Eyes_ by Yungblud, I think it's incredible. Also the live cover version _I Will Follow You Into The Dark_ by Yungblud and Halsey, and this also shows incredible chemistry between them. So, Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison...I totally understand that he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I adore him. He's only twenty-one and he has written some incredible songs. _Polygraph Eyes_ is about sexual assault and the consent issue that is so big right now. _Medication_ that talks about our heavily medicated society, and _Kill Somebody_ , which is a something of a visual representation of depression and anxiety, which hits hard for me. He's really open about his own mental illness and ADHD, and he's continually breaking down gender norms and sexual stereotypes—dude wears more pink that a Disney princess, rocks dresses and skirts, regularly makes out with his guitarist and has a beautiful relationship with Halsey. I recommend him so much, he's just so unapologetically himself and blunt and incredible, please, please, please check him out. **

**TV series and movies...I'm really enjoying _Bull_ and _Ray Donovan_ at the moment. Also, _Animal Kingdom_ , which I started watching for Finn Cole, who is also in _Peaky Blinders_ , and it's fucking amazing. So is _Peaky Blinders_ , though. So both of them. We also recently rewatched _Hairspray_ , which I adore. Haha. **

**Ooh, also! We have release date for the new _Veronica Mars_ series! I feel like I've been waiting a life time for it. And for _Big Little Lies_! I wasn't to keen on a second season just because the first one was complete and there was only one book, but I'm still excited for it. **

**I've gone to a couple of concerts this month; Anne Marie and Billie Eilish. Both of them had such incredible voices live, they sounded pretty much exactly like their studio recordings and they had such insane energy. Anne Marie seemed like a total sweetheart, full of smiles and giggles, and then Billie was just amazing, that girl is going places given she's gotten this far and she's only seventeen. The whole crowd for Billie was on their feet the whole time, even us in the seated section—she was just magnetic. Tickets for her were insane, we only just managed to get some in the last release.**

 **Ooh, and Drax Project have a new music video out for their song _Woke Up_ Late featuring Hailee Steinfeld. My hubby wasn't too happy, because it's got Liza Koshy in it and he finds her frustrating at hell. **

**Now for my questions! Okay...What is a ship, or multiple ships, that have broken your heart, or that have really made you feel just a little fucked up? Can be canon or not. My top one would have to be Hanna/Caleb from _Pretty Little Liars_. I absolutely fucking hated season 6 and 7 of _PLL_ , and I stopped watching it until they got back together, and even then, it actually felt like my whole stomach had been ripped out of my body when there was the whole Spencer/Caleb story line. And then the other two would be Landon/Jamie from _A Walk To Remember_ and Ian/Mickey from _Shameless_. Holy shit. My fucking heart. There are plenty of other couples that really hit me as well, Steve/Bucky from _Avengers_ , Alex/Michael from _Roswell: New Mexico_ , Bellamy/Clarke from _The 100_ , Logan/Veronica from Veronica Mars, Chuck/Blair from _Gossip Girl_ , Will/Alicia from _The Good Wife_ and Jane/Michael from _Jane The Virgin_ to name a few.**

 **Next one; what is your favourite colour? Super easy, right? Haha. Although I don't have one, so maybe it's not...Green or purple? Maybe? Haha.**

 **And then; are you preparing to be emotionally fucked up by _Avengers: Endgame_ , or are you completely indifferent? I'm seeing it in a couple of hours, and I tell you, I am fucked. And I am _going_ to be so fucked. I've looked up every spoiler possible, watched a bit of the leaked footage and I'm still not prepared. If you guys want any spoilers or anything, just message me, and I'll try to retain everything through my hysteria.**

 **Just as my last point, my love and heart goes out to those in Sri Lanka. My cousin and I cried when waking up and reading what happened and I can't even fathom how those who were involved and directly affected are feeling right now.**

 **Love to you all xx**


	17. Chapter 17

"So was it, like, one of those situations where he's got a masters degree in taking selfies, and he's actually really short and weird looking?" Lydia asked.

"No!" Clary let out a loud laugh from where she was stretched out on her bed, phone tucked against her ear as the morning sunlight fell in golden streaks on the duvet around her. "He was...He was fucking gorgeous, okay? Just like he was in the pictures."

"What's the catch then, aye?" Lydia asked. "Coz there's gotta be something. There's gotta be some reason that a hot, rich guy who has enough free time to fly down to Malibu at half a minute's notice and who has a _holiday house in Malibu_ doesn't have some hot, model girlfriend!" Clary knew that she was right, because hell, it had definitely something that she had been asking herself more and more frequently over these past few months.

"He's...I don't know—he seems great," Clary replied. "And he was an amazing cook. From what he's said before, and the way he was brought up—at least from my understanding—I really didn't expect him to know how to cook. But he did, and it was great."

"Mm," Lydia hummed out. "Well, I feel as though you need to bring him out for the rest of us to meet."

"What—so the lot of you can scare him off?!" Clary snorted. "Yeah, I don't think so!"

"Hey, we have to deem that he's good enough for you!" Lydia protested. "You've barely had any serious boyfriends, and from the way you've been hooked on him ever since the pair of you started snapchatting, it kinda sounds serious." Clary sighed as she thought about the hundred possible ways that Jace meeting her friends could go wrong, starting with something as simple them just not liking him, to Simon going on a two hour lecture about how many x-rated comic books he's read and how he knows how to dispose of a body.

Thankfully that had only happened with one guy, but Clary wouldn't put it past him for a second round.

"Bring him to Simon's tonight," Lydia said decisively. "I'm going to tell everyone to meet us there."

"Uh," Clary scrambled for something to say to get her and Jace both out of meeting up with her friends.

"We need to make sure he's not a serial killer, okay? And we also need to find out how he's so rich," she added in a musing voice, more as though she was talking to herself. "Coz if he's involved in some illegal shit, I mean, that's workable, but it would definitely be ideal if it was all above board and legit." Clary's eyes widened at where her friends mind went. "That's okay, I'm sure we'll get something out of him."

"Uh," Clary repeated. "It's a work night. I mean, it's fine for me, I work on my own time and shit, but for you guys—" it was a lame excuse, and Lydia obviously thought so as well because she just laughed.

"I'll text you with a time. We'll meet at Simon's," Lydia replied breezily. "Love ya, girl," and with that, the phone beeped and Clary knew that her friend had ended the call. Clary sighed, tossing the phone to one side and looking down to where Bucky was curled up at the end of her bed. There was also another two cats there as well, a pure white one and a calico, one's that were up from the sheds and the vineyards. It was just after seven in the morning, and she had already been awake for an hour and a half, rethinking everything that had happened yesterday with Jace and then her stomach in knots of anticipation about what might happen today with him. Her phone buzzed a little while later, and she picked it up.

 _About forty minutes away. Can't wait to see you again._

Clary let out a squeal and bounced around on her bed a little, doing a weird, lying down dance before she dragged herself up and off to the shower. She spent longer in the shower than usual, but there was no one around to judge her on that. She lathered every inch of her skin with the lemon scented body wash, shaving under her arms, her legs, and after a moments thought, between her legs. It wasn't as though she was _planning_ on sleeping with Jace, but hey, things happen. They had already kissed a couple of times, and it wasn't as though she didn't know him at all, they had been talking for months now.

The idea of Jace kissing her neck and holding her legs up as he drove into her, over and over again, made her cheeks hot, and her mind flash back to the snapchat that he had sent her early in the morning, his hand reaching for his lower half.

And that lead to her taking a little bit longer in the shower, taking full advantage of the detatchable shower head.

When she got out, the changed into a yellow sundress, dotted in tiny pink and blue flowers, scrubbing her hair with the towel to dry it as much as possible before tying it back in a thick braid down her back. Bucky was the only cat left in her house when she went out to her kitchen, and she spotted her mother coming down on a quad bike, red hair identical to Clary's streaming out behind her.

"Hey, baby!" Jocelyn called out as she got off the bike and ran her fingers through her hair, jogging up the steps to Clary's front door, which was unlocked. It was probably a bad habit of hers, always having the door unlocked, but there was hardly ever any crime around here, and Clary's home was buried deep within the vineyard, she barely ever locked her front door.

"Hey, mum," Clary smiled as she picked up the jug and filled it with water.

"You had breakfast yet?" Jocelyn asked as she reached down to pat Bucky on the head before straightening back up and giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek. Clary leaned into her mother for a moment to accept the kiss before walking over to put the jug on.

"Nope, you want something?" Clary asked.

"Just some cereal, if that's what you're doing for yourself," Jocelyn replied as she sat down at the wooden table, hooking one of her legs underneath her body.

"You want coffee or tea?" Clary continued as she opened the fridge and took out the milk and a pottle of yoghurt.

"Have you got any of that fancy tea that Jon sent back?"

"That stuff from Morocco?" Clary clarified with a grin even as she was moving over to the fancy wooden box that Jonathon had sent back to her a couple of months ago. He had sent an identical box to her mother, but Jocelyn had gone through her own in about six weeks. Jocelyn nodded and Clary found two different flavors and then set about getting two bowls of cereal ready as she waited for the jug to boil. When everything was ready, Clary sat down opposite her mother, and they talked in between mouthfuls.

It was almost comical the way that Jocelyn's head jerked up as the sound of tyres crunching on gravel approached outside, and Clary raised an eyebrow wryly.

"So you coming to see me had more to do with him, huh?" She stated, and Jocelyn just shrugged and smiled serenely. Clary rolled her eyes, trying to play it cool as she got up from the table, even though it felt as though it felt as though her blood had been electrified in her veins. She waited a few moments behind the front door, until she heard his footsteps on the deck outside, and then she opened up the door. "Hey," Clary greeted him, biting down her smile which was threatening to take over her whole face.

"Hey," Jace looked adorable shy again as he drank her in, from her bare feet right up to the thick red plait. "Morning," he leaned forward awkwardly, looking unsure as to whether he should hug her or go in for a kiss. Clary solved his problem by reaching up and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Jace smiled and shifted the hand that had been behind his back, producing a gorgeous bouquet of flowers.

"Oh, Jace," Clary blinked in surprise as he held them out to her. "They're gorgeous."

"I, uh, meant to pick some up for you yesterday," Jace admitted. "But I was kind of just so nervous that I forgot." Clary grinned, and when she lifted herself back up onto her tip toes, this time she pressed a brief kiss to his mouth.

That was when she remembered the fact that her mother was in the house, and she pulled back, mouthing 'sorry' to him before leading the way into the kitchen.

"So, mum," she began, and felt Jace stiffen behind her, and she felt bad for not being able to give him anymore warning. "This is Jace," she part turned to look at Jace, who was clearly trying to cover up his surprise with a smile, which was handsome, albeit a bit uncomfortable. "Jace, this is my mother, Jocelyn." Jocelyn got up from the table, a wide smile on her face as she came over and thrust out her hand.

"It's so good to meet you, Jace," she told him with a grin, taking his hand when he reached out toward hers. "I've heard so much about you."

"Uh, yes, me too," Jace glanced over at Clary and she gave him another apologetic look. Thankfully, Jocelyn didn't seem to be in full on interrogation mode today, because she let Jace's hand go and turned fully to face Clary.

"Those are gorgeous," she said. "Good choice," she smirked at Jace, and the poor golden haired man flushed another shade of red. "Have you got a vase for those or did you need me to bring them down from the house?"

"I'm pretty sure we're good here, thanks, _mum_ ," Clary gave her a pointed look. "I'll see you later, okay?" Jocelyn grinned, able to get the hint that Clary was not-so-subtly throwing her way.

"Alright, I'll leave you two to your day," Jocelyn said, reaching forward to give Clary a kiss on the side of her head. "Oh, and Jace?" Jace looked over at her. "You should come up and have dinner with myself and my husband before you leave. Luke would like to meet you." Jace pursed his lips together, hoping that he didn't look full on terrified at the idea of meeting Clary's father as well.

"Yeah, that sounds...Great," he answered, and Clary let out a snort beside him, obviously able to pick up how weak his words sounded. Jocelyn did as well, from the gentle smile on her face, but she didn't call him out on it, just smiling over her shoulder before she left the house. Jace turned to face Clary, and she made a face.

"Sorry, she just kind of showed up," she apologized.

"No, that's fine..." Jace scratched the side of his face and let out a short laugh. "So that's your mum, huh?"

 **My biggest recommendation this time is _Sense8_ , which I've undoubtedly recommend before. I will never, ever get over Netflix cancelling it. It was such a beautiful, incredible show, celebrating diversity and culture and love and hope, and I'm rewatching it now, and it just...It heals my soul. So please watch it! Also, as a side note, the sex scenes are the most sensual, intimate thing in the world. Also I've recently watched _Quicksand_ , _Bondage_ and _Derry Girls_ , and I recommend them all. My hubby and I binged _Bondage_ while stoned, and it was the best experience ever. Haha. And then with _Quicksand_ , I do want to say that there is a trigger warning, it'll be obvious in the synopsis, so just...Be warned.**

 **In the music world, I suggest _What's Up Danger?_ by Blackway featuring Black Caviar, _Doom Days_ by Bastille, _Can't Love Me_ by Novi and Tyler Blackburn and _No Ceiling_ by Cody Simpson.**

 **Questions - who was your favourite at the Met Gala? Mine was Ezra Miller! Closely followed by Zazie Beets and Lily Collins.**

 **What was the last song you've listened to? _21st Century Liability_ by Yungblud is currently playing, so that for me!**

 **Leave a review, let me know what you guys think x**


	18. Chapter 18

Jace had no idea how many days he had spent locked up inside his apartment, watching TV and lying in bed or on the couch. That was pretty much the only thing that he ever did. And yet, it felt completely different, doing it with Clary. They stretched out on her couch, Bucky coming and going, his tail flicking in the air, and Clary was in control of the remote, with some food on the table in front of them. Jace had picked up some food on the way over, stopping at a cafe to get a savory scone and a coffee, and then continuing onto Clary's, eating while he drove, not wanting to lose anytime on his way to her house. Clary had just finished breakfast when he had shown up, but then she pulled a pineapple out of her fridge and said that it was never too early for 'second breakfast'.

She put on a funny voice when she said it as well, and smiled to herself, but it wasn't until half an hour later that Jace realized she had been quoting _Lord of the Rings_.

He smiled when he realized that, shaking his head.

"So you're telling me that you've never seen _Baby_ _Geniuses_?" Clary sounded as though she was in complete disbelief.

"Uh, no?" Jace couldn't help but smile at her expression, although he tried to sound apologetic.

"Oh my god! We are watching that _right now_. That was my favourite movie when I was a kid! I made my mum take me to it twice at the movies, and then I had my grandma take me as well. Jon was so sick of it, because when it finally came out, I watched it _over and over and over_ again," Clary laughed as she typed the name of the movie into her tablet, and cast it onto the TV in front of them.

With the way that they were on the couch, there had originally been a little bit of space between them. But sometime around lunch, when Clary got up and put a pizza in the oven to heat up, she came back and sat closer to him, their shoulders touching each other. After they had eaten the pizza, and she had taken their plates back into the kitchen, she had blatantly stretched out on the couch, resting her head on his lap and hooking her legs over the arm of the couch. Jace's eyes widened as he looked down at her. She looked back up at him for a moment, as though to check that this was okay.

Jace responded by lifting his hand and stroking it through her hair.

Clary smiled and wiggled happily at the touch, turning her head to look at the TV. Bucky jumped up as well, curling up next to her side. Jace couldn't help the fact that he was completely distracted and had _no idea_ what was happening in the movie. All he knew was that Clary's hair felt incredibly soft, and when she laughed, it made her whole body shake.

* * *

It was mid afternoon that Clary told Jace that Lydia had invited them out that evening. Or, not so much as invited, as _told_ her that they would be meeting them. Jace let out a laugh and tried to cover up how nervous he was to be meeting her friends, and nodded. He had brought one of his bags of clothes— _just in case_ —so after they had finished dinner, he went out to the car and got the bag and got changed in her spare room. Clary was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a light grey hoodie that laced up loosely over her cleavage.

"We'll take my car," she said as she lead the way out of her home. Her dark blue car was parked around the side of the cottage. It was a nice car, but there were a few scratches along the side and it was nowhere near a new model, like the ones that Jace was accustomed to when he actually around his own car, rather than a town car. But there were things that made it personal when he slid in, like the bright pink iPod that she had, next to the AUX cord between the seats. And then there were a couple of necklaces hanging from around the rear view mirror, some clothes in the backseat and an old movie ticket sticking out of the ash tray.

"So..." Jace wet his lips nervously as Clary turned her car around and started up the driveway. "How many of your friends are gonna be there tonight?" She snorted and then gave him a sympathetic look.

"Probably a few," she replied honestly. "Sorry, Lydia sort of wants to make sure you're not some creepy serial killer." Jace raised an eyebrow with a half smile.

"She didn't trust you to make that judgement yourself?" He asked and Clary laughed.

"Hey, there's no arguing with Lydia," she shrugged. "Besides, let's face it, she just wants to make sure you're as hot in real life as you are in the pictures." Jace pursed his lips together to try and stop himself from grinning. Clary plugged her iPod into the stereo and turned it on, some weird song that Jace didn't recognize started playing. He wanted to reach out and sling his arm around the back of her seat, but she kept on bouncing up and down in her seat, tilting her head from side to side, so he really didn't have the opportunity.

It didn't take long to get into town, and Clary pulled her car down the narrow driveway beside the bar, pulling behind the bar.

"Are you meant to park around here?" Jace glanced around to where there was one other car parked in the tiny parking lot, and the rundown van with a faded logo of the bars name on the side.

"Yeah, this is the bar that Si runs," Clary grinned as she turned off the car.

"Oh right, yeah," Jace nodded, vaguely remembering Clary talking about how she and her friends always got cheap alcohol because they had an 'in' with the bar owner. "With Jordan?" He questioned and Clary nodded, walking in front of him and not seeing the expression on his face when he said the name 'Jordan'. He had heard Jordan mentioned in passing conversation plenty of times, and he had been in a few snapchats when she was in group settings, but the one video that stuck out was that one that Lydia had sent of Clary straddling him, their lips glued together.

He shook his head, and tried to push that image to the back of his head.

"Simon!" Clary called out as they walked into the bar. It was just after seven, and it was almost dark outside, and it looked as though the bar was just beginning to fill up, people wandering in after they had been home to shower and change after work before coming down. Clary skipped over to the bar, where a tall, rather skinny man with glasses was standing, drying off a wine glass with a blue cloth. Jace _definitely_ recognized him from snapchats.

"Hey, Clary," Simon leaned over the bar to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, and his eyes moved over to Jace, sizing him up. "And you must be Jace."

"I am," Jace nodded, feeling a little awkward, standing in front of Simon. It was silly, really, given he was clearly more muscular and taller than the other man, but there was a protective gleam in his eye.

"It's good to meet you," Simon stretched his arm over the bar and Jace took his hand, shaking firmly. "What can I get you?"

"Just, um..." he glanced behind the counter to the liquor that was lining the shelves. "Just whatever beer's on tap," he decided. He probably wouldn't even drink a whole mug, there was no way he wanted to be impaired tonight when meeting all of Clary's friends.

"Okay," Simon nodded, not bothering to ask Clary what she wanted. Clary looked over her shoulder to Jace, as though checking that he was okay, and then looked back at Simon. He returned after a moment, pushing a large glass of beer across to Jace, and handing Clary a bottle of Corona. "Lydia's around the back with Jordan and Aline."

"Okay, great, you got anyone coming in to help tonight? Or you going to be stuck behind the bar all night?" Clary asked as she took a sip of her beer.

"I've got Jenny and Troy coming in for a shift in about an hour, so I'll come out and meet you guys after that," Simon replied. Clary grinned and waved at Simon as she lead the way toward the back of the bar, and Jace lifted his hand in a sort-of salute. He kept his head down, following Clary, even though no one seemed interested in him or giving him a second glance, which was good. There hadn't seemed to be any recognition in Simon's eyes either, at least other than seeing him as a friend of a friend.

"Just around here," Clary told him, looking back over her shoulder to make sure he was still behind her. They rounded the corner of the bar to where there was a pool table, a couple more high booths and a dart board. There were only about six or seven people in this area of the bar, and the blonde who had a tall glass in her hand with some pink drink inside turned around and let out a squeal when she saw Clary. Clary laughed and wrapped her arms around the blonde. "Hi, Lydia," she sung out.

"Hey, baby," Lydia pulled back and grinned as she looked Jace up and down. "And you are just as hot as you are in photos." Jace didn't like how hard Lydia was looking at him, he felt as though he was under a microscope, and he really hoped that she wasn't staring at him like that because she recognized him. But, no, Lydia just threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly, before whispering in his ear, "You hurt my girl, I've got no problem with burying your body somewhere that no one will ever find you."

So she wasn't studying him because she recognized him.

It was because she was trying to figure out his intentions toward her best friend.

That was okay.

"And that is Jordan," Lydia released him and pointed over to a man who was holding a pool cue. "And that's Aline," she pointed at a girl who was on the other side of the pool table, holding another cue. The girl had her head tilted to the side as she looked at him, a frown on her face. Jace quickly looked away, his eyes settling back on Clary.

"Come on," she patted the bar stool next to her, which was spun around so that she could watch the pool game. Jace got up on the bar stool next to her, and watched as Lydia walked back over the pool table, teasing Jordan as he missed a shot. "So Helen will be here soon, she's Aline's girlfriend."

"And you work above Aline's office, right?" Jace checked, and Clary nodded with a small smile.

"Yeah, I—" she broke off as she straightened up and waved at someone behind Jace. "Helen!" She called out, and Jace turned his bar stool around so that he could see the woman who was approaching, wearing a loose black dress that showed off her shapely legs and slim figure.

"Baby," Aline smiled from the far side of the pool table, and Jace glanced in her direction, and noticed that she was looking back in her direction. Helen made her rounds and said hello to Jace with a wide smile before going over to her girlfriend. Aline said something quietly to her and glanced back over at Jace. He tried to brush it off, focus back on Clary who was laughing and talking to Lydia now, but he couldn't help look back over at the two woman by the pool table. Jordan seemed to have gotten distracted from the pool game as well, tapping away on his phone, when Helen let out a snort of laughter.

"Okay, Jace, right?" She called out across to him, walking around the pool table to where he was. "Um, we just want to clear something, because Aline's got some weird idea that you're a Herondale."

Jace just stared at her.

He could feel his cheeks heating up, and his mouth felt dry.

"Herondale?" He could hear Clary talking, but her voice sounded muffled, or far away. "What do you mean?"

"Like Celine Herondale," Helen prompted, still grinning, looking as though she didn't agree with Aline. Jace's eyes flickered across the pool table to where Aline was still standing, now tapping at the screen of her phone, her thumbs moving rapidly, looking completely engrossed.

"The actress? That actress that you always check out?" Clary laughed, glancing between Jace and Aline.

"Yes!" Aline let out a triumphant sound and almost tripped over her own feet in her hurry to get around the pool table, waving her phone at them. "You are, right? You're Celine Herondale's son!" She had managed to find one of the few updated photo's of Jace that had been taken by the paparazzi online, at the premiere of Celine's most recent movie, despite how hard he had tried to hide his face.

There really wasn't much point in denying it, and the amused smile had faded on Clary's face as she looked over at him.

"Yeah," Jace stated quietly, his voice tightly. "I am."

 **I don't really have the energy for a paragraph thing sorry. I've been fucking spiraling for the past six weeks or so, although I guess I had my birthday? Which was okay?**

 **Um... _Nightmare_ by Halsey is a fucking anthem and I don't know how many times I've listened and cried to it in the past day and half it's been out.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the update.**


	19. Chapter 19

"Wait..." Lydia took a step backwards, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Jace. "Like...Stephen Herondale's son? That hunky actor who was in _The Shadowhunters Academy_?"

"Yes!" Aline looked ridiculously excited as she waved her phone around.

"Holy shit," Helen looked completely taken aback that her girlfriend had been right.

"That's that actress, right?" Even Jordan looked over at them, his interest pulled away from the phone in his hand. "That actress that you have a thing for, right? You were going on about her new movie when we were having lunch the other week?"

" _City of Heavenly Fire_ ," Aline nodded her head rapidly.

They were all talking, over top of one another as Jordan also seemed to look up Jace's parents on his phone—and maybe even Jace himself. Lydia looked stunned and Aline looked practically starry-eyed, but Jace wasn't paying attention to any of them. His eyes were only on Clary, who was frozen in her bar stool, staring at Aline. She hadn't even looked in Jace's direction since he had confirmed that he was a Herondale, that he was the son of two of the biggest actors in Hollywood at the moment. It was as though she was still processing, staring at Aline as though she was expecting this whole moment to just be something in her head and for life to resume moving forward soon.

"Fuck," Lydia's eyebrows lifted so high they almost disappeared into her hairline. "You dated that crazy chick, right? Uh—Kaelie!" She snapped her fingers as she remembered the name. "She ended up on the reality show, _Alicante Nights_. She was fucking insane," Lydia snorted, and that seemed to be the thing that made Clary finally turned her eyes toward Jace.

"You were on that TV show," she said quietly, probably only loud enough for Jace to hear over her friends speaking and the music that was playing through the music. "When I was a teenager, there was a TV show that I used to watch, _Idris High._ There was only, like, two seasons of it, because the lead actor had some kind of break down and went to rehab..." Jace swallowed hard and nodded his head. Clary had assumed that something had happened in his personal life that had caused him to live like a shut in, but she had never pushed it with him. He had mentioned a couple of times that he had gone through a bad break up, but he had never expanded on it. He had definitely never told her that he had gone to rehab. "I think..." she put her beer down on the edge of the bar and got off the bar stool, her legs a little shaky. "I think that we should go home—should go back to my place."

"Okay," Jace nodded slowly, putting down his own mug of beer and getting off the bar stool.

"Clary?" Lydia asked softly, and the excitement had drained from Aline's face as well as she realized that this was completely new information to Clary.

"I'll talk to you later," Clary murmured before she pushed past her friends and walked quickly out of the bar, Jace walking quickly to keep up with her.

"Clary," Jace had to pick up his pace to catch up with Clary, and that definitely said something for how quickly she was walking, since his legs were longer than hers. "Clary!" He repeated, a little louder, although Jace knew that she could hear him. She reached her car and unlocked it, but at least she didn't start reversing until he got in the car, so that was a plus. "Clary," he began again as Clary drove out of the spot that they were in behind the bar and out onto the street. There weren't many cars driving, although there were quite a few cars parked outside the bar, and then outside a few restaurants and another pub as they continued to drive out of the township. "Clary," he tried one last time but this time she actually responded to him by holding up one hand.

"Can you just..." she didn't sound angry, just...She sounded confused and maybe a little hurt.

Which Jace could completely understand.

"You said that you had a girlfriend when you were younger, a girlfriend that screwed you up," she began, both hands on the wheel, clenching it so tightly that her knuckles were completely drained of colour. "And you said that you stay in your apartment because your family is pretty well known." She was putting everything together in her head, and Jace knew that it wouldn't be too hard, because he had never really hidden too much from her, and she had just been given the final piece of the puzzle that would completely tie everything together.

"Yeah," Jace murmured. He hadn't even bothered to put his seat belt on, his body turned in his seat so that he could watch Clary carefully. He knew that it wouldn't be fair of him to expect her _not_ to react, so all he really wanted to know right now was that she wasn't going to get back to her place and ask him to get in his car and keep on driving. Not that he could blame her, but Clary was this...She was this incredible person with this beautiful life and he wanted to be a part of it. He wanted to be a part of it so badly that it hurt.

"She did all those interviews, she dragged it out for ages," Clary continued, her words coming out bitter. "I didn't pay much attention to it, it was around the time I just started paying attention to boys, and I was going out every weekend, but I remember it being on the TV one night when I was home with mum. She was going on and on and on—" Clary broke off and shook her head, and she flexed her fingers around the wheel of the car and Jace noted that they were out of the township now, and she was increasing her speed as they got onto the country roads. "My mum said that it must be horrible. It must be completely horrible to have your life put out on display for everyone to see and judge, and it must make anyone involved regret taking up a career that would put their personal life out in the open like that."

"It wasn't really a choice," Jace murmured. "I mean, I was born into it, with my parents being—"

"Stephen and Celine Herondale," Clary breathed out, finishing it with a slight laugh of disbelief, shaking her head. "Yeah." Jace licked his lips and chose not to say anything, because he could understand that this was something that was going to take a while to sink in. He sunk back into his seat and fell quiet, guessing that if there was anything further to say, she would speak up.

He was sixteen and he had been deeply involved with a life and a world that promoted drinking and self medicating and having sex with one person after another. As long as he could remember, he was bounced between one assistant to another while his parents were on set at one movie after another. He didn't hold it against them, he knew that that it was their job. When he was on a TV show from age five to eight, he stayed on set through the filming, and then when he was the TV show that Clary had been talking about, from fifteen through to sixteen, he had stayed on set again, and that was when he had met Kaelie. She had only done a small stint on the show, only two episodes, but she was fun, and maybe a little reckless, and Jace had let himself get sucked into her world.

Kaelie's mother was a club owner and her father was a music producer. She wasn't a great actor, she wasn't a great singer, she was just a child of parents who were on the edges of Jace's scene. The hardest thing Jace had ever done was tequila and weed, but Kaelie had lots of older friends—later he came to realize that a lot of them were older ex- _lovers_ —who partied on a lot of harder drugs. Jace had been hesitant at first, but then things got harder with his parents—there were a bunch of cheating rumours that started spinning about his father, accompanied by photos, and his mother decided to take a break and disappeared to their Malibu house alone for a few weeks. So Jace had fallen.

Four whole months of his life had disappeared—he still didn't remember what had happened, although a couple of things came back in snapshots as the years went by—they were a mess of hard liquor, cocaine and sex. It wasn't just sex with Kaelie either, he knew that for a fact, given there were photos leaked to the press of him with two other girls, white powder spattered underneath his nose. That had been when his cousins and parents had become aware of what he was doing while _Idris High_ was on hiatus.

Both of his parents had shown up at the apartment that he had been in near the _Idris High_ set, and Jace couldn't remember them showing up, but Celine had told him later through tears streaming down her face that he had been on the floor in the bathroom, other people spread through the apartment, all in different stages of undress and unconsciousness. Jace had barely been breathing, and he had a gash on his head—he had hit his head against the corner of the bath at some point.

They had rushed him off to hospital, and then shipped him off to rehab. Part of his rehabilitation kept him away from the TV and computer and the magazines and tabloids. He didn't know what was going on with Kaelie until the day he left, when he was with Isabelle and Celine. They had attempted to break it to him gently, but then Alec had walked into the room and dropped a magazine down on the table in front of him. It had a photo of a crying Kaelie, big blue eyes and quivering lower lip, and a headline slandering _him_. Jace could barely breathe as he opened up the magazine and flipped through, reading all about how Kaelie had been completely swept up in the fame wave that had come with having attention paid to her by someone who was celebrity royalty.

As the days went by and Jace couldn't help but be lured by his laptop into researching _every single thing_ that Kaelie had said about him, he read about how she had been sucked in by him, how she had just wanted him to accept her, so she had gotten drunk and had done drugs and had sex with him and anyone else that he had propelled her toward. He had completely taken advantage of her with his party boy ways, and then his rich family had flown him away to escape the media hurricane that had swarmed in, while she was left behind to face the cameras.

Jace had flown to Greece, taking up cooking classes and exploring, and that was when he had met Sebastian. The pair of them had traveled for a while, going to a cooking school in France and then trekking through the Himalayas. Sebastian had never been someone who was followed around by paparazzi, and Jace had grown out his hair and his beard, and so they managed to go under the radar. It had been a long time before he returned to New York, and when he did, he had decided that he wanted nothing more to do with the celebrity scene.

Both he and Sebastian had had enough money to get their first restaurant started up. Jace had signed up, sort of as a silent partner, so that his face didn't need to be seen around. He didn't want the success of their restaurant to be based on his or his parents popularity. And it turned out that they didn't need to rely on his name, because their restaurant had taken off with a roar, and they had opened another one several years later.

"Okay," Clary said quietly, shaking Jace out of his thoughts. He hadn't even realized that they were at her place. "Um...You can stay here for the night. I'm going up to my parents."

"I can just go home," Jace offered weakly.

"No," she shook her head, and Jace took that as a good sign, that she wasn't angry enough to send him packing. "It's okay. I'll, uh, I'll come back in the morning, okay? The doors unlocked." Jace nodded, swallowing hard as he got out of the car. She waited until he got out of the car and reached the front door, before she turned the car around and headed back up the driveway, to the main house.

 **So, songs... _Blue Jeans_ by Sofia Kelberg is so incredible. I love it. _I'll Be_ by Edwin McCain is an all time favourite. And I've recently heard _Omaha_ by Counting Crows, which I really enjoyed. TV shows...I've recently watched _Dead To Me, Good Girls_ and _The Order_ , and I liked all of them, more the first two, though. So I recommend both of them especially. **

**Hope you guys had a good weekend, and have a good week ahead.**

 **Let me know if you want a preview x**


	20. Chapter 20

The house that had felt so warm and full of life, just felt empty without Clary there. Jace stood in the doorway for a few minutes, not too sure what to do. When he had brought his bag in that morning, he had high hopes for staying over at her place—not that he was expecting anything to actually _happen_ other than hopefully some more kissing and over the clothes touching—but it hadn't been like this. She had shown him where the guest room was when he had carried in his bag, and so after a few more minutes, Jace locked the front door with the dead bolt, and wandered through the dark hallway to the guest bedroom.

It wasn't big, his bathroom at his penthouse was bigger, but it was just like the rest of the house, it held more colour and life than his whole apartment combined. He flicked on the lamp next to the bed and closed the curtains, and sat down on the edge of the bed. The bedspread was a navy blue, with green designs swirling over it, and the pillows were covered in mismatched cases. There was a book case in the corner, spilling over with books and magazines, and there was a piece of art work that Jace assumed Clary had painted hanging on the wall. He traced his finger along one of the green designs on the duvet cover before getting off the mattress and picking up his bag, opening it up to pull out a pair of sweatpants to sleep in. He found his charger as well, plugging it behind the bed and making himself comfortable in the bed before turning off the lamp.

Jace wasn't sure how long he stared at the ceiling, turning from side to side, trying to go to sleep. He could blame some of it on jet lag, but then he should be _more_ tired, given California was three hours behind New York. Although he usually stayed up late, and then slept halfway through the next day, so that would be part of the problem as well.

But he knew the real reason that he couldn't sleep was because of Clary.

He was scared that he had lost her.

Jace rolled over and picked up his phone from where it was on the bedside table, and dialed Isabelle's number. Isabelle was just like him, she spent most of the night awake and slept in the morning. She didn't have any shows that he knew about, so he was hoping that she wasn't out partying with any of her friends, or in bed with another one of her handsome-but-thick boy toys. The phone rang four times, and he was about to give up and attempt to go back to sleep, when the call was answered.

"Jace?" Isabelle asked.

"Hey," Jace replied.

"What's going on?" Isabelle sounded worried. "Why are you calling me? Aren't you at Clary's? Did something go wrong?" Jace bit down on his lower lip and felt tears spring to his eyes. He blinked quickly, completely surprised by the tears that were building up behind his eyes, and he took in a deep breath. "Jace?" Her voice was lowered, becoming more gentle. "Talk to me."

"One of her friends recognized me," Jace murmured, breathing in deeply and running a hand over his face as he laid on his back in the unfamiliar bed.

"So she knows who you are," Isabelle answered softly.

"Yup," Jace stated unnecessarily. Silence stretched out between the two, before his cousin began again,

"It was going to happen," she reasoned. "You _were_ going to tell her at some point, right? I mean, if it's something serious between the pair of you, she was going to find out eventually. It would have been better to come from you, but the longer you didn't tell her, the more likely someone around her would have told her." She was right, and Jace knew that, and she was only saying what he was thinking, but that didn't make it any less frustrating, even though he brought it on himself.

"I knew I had to tell her," Jace said. "But I...I just kind of wanted to stay in this bubble for as long as we could, you know? I didn't know how she was going to react—I _still_ don't really know how she's going to react, because she's taken off to her parents place."

"Where are you?" Isabelle asked.

"I'm at her place," Jace answered.

"Well, that's a good sign," Isabelle prompted gently. "I mean, the fact that she didn't just ask you to fuck off and leave her alone, so that sort of makes it seems that she isn't just going to write you off as a liar."

" _Technically_ I never lied," Jace pointed out.

 _"I_ know that, Jace, but maybe she doesn't, so it probably isn't best to split hairs," she murmured. "That's really not the best thing to do here. The worst thing that can happen here is that you try to make it seem as though you haven't done anything wrong, and she decides that she can't trust you. You _did_ hide a _huge_ part of your life from her."

"That's not the worst thing that could happen," Jace muttered.

"What—you think that she's going to do a Kaelie? Sell all your pictures and chats?" Isabelle asked in disbelief.

"That would be the worst thing," Jace sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Come on, Jace, you don't think she's like that," Isabelle murmured. "If you did, you wouldn't have flown out there." Jace took in a deep breath. "Look, just breathe. Try to get some sleep. If she's at her parents and she's letting you stay at her place, then she's going to come back at some point. When she comes back, _talk to her._ Tell her everything, and just tell her that you were scared—that you're _still_ scared—and that was why you didn't tell her anything. That you didn't want her to treat you any different, or to change things between you."

"Yeah," Jace heaved out another sigh.

"Get yourself some sleep, Jace," Isabelle told him. "So that you can face her in the morning."

* * *

Luke was pacing the kitchen, while Jocelyn was just sitting on the bar stool in the kitchen with her eyebrows as raised as Clary finished explaining why she was up here at there place, while Jace was down at her home. Luke let out a sigh through his teeth and shook his head, coming around to the other side of the kitchen bench and put a hand on Clary's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"I can go down there," he began, his voice firm. "I can tell him to leave, have him out of your place in two minutes flat."

"That's not what I want," she sighed, shaking her head.

"He lied to you, girl," Luke didn't sound happy, but then again, he never really was when it came to men around his step-daughter.

"But you can understand _why_ ," Jocelyn said gently, reaching over to take Clary's hand, giving it a squeeze. "The poor boy was frightened. This is a big secret to protect, and he would have just wanted to be treated like any other person, not put on a pedestal and idolized."

"As though our Clary would do that," Luke scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He wouldn't have known that when they first started speaking," Jocelyn pointed out, her voice still calm and reasonable. "And then after they started talking—when exactly would he had slotted that somewhere into the conversation? It's not really something that you just _drop_ on someone." Clary nodded, glad that her mother was saying what she had been trying to think to herself. "Look, I think the best course of action is for Clary to stay in the guest bedroom tonight, get some rest, and then she can talk to him in the morning, have an open and honest conversation with each other."

"Thank you," Clary murmured as she turned her hand over, so that she could properly hold her mothers hand.

"That is...A lot to take in," Jocelyn mused. "Celine Herondale—she's a good actress." Jocelyn still looked a little shell-shocked at the revelation, and Clary couldn't blame her. _She_ still wasn't sure what she was meant to do with the information. "You did the right thing, in putting some distance between yourself and him, so that you can both regroup."

"I still vote that you let me go down there and kick him out of your home," Luke grumbled, and Clary felt a small smile twitch on her lips.

"It's okay, dad, I'll be fine," she assured him. "I think I just need to get some sleep." Jocelyn nodded in agreement, getting up from where she was sitting and giving Clary a quick hug. Luke didn't look happy, but he came over and gave Clary a kiss on her temple and a one armed hug. Clary was left in the kitchen by herself, her phone sitting on the marble kitchen top in front of her. She wasn't kidding anyone, especially herself, saying that she was going to get sleep tonight. There was far too much running through her head right now for her brain to switch off and actually let her rest.

Nevertheless, she got off the bar stool, turning off the lights in the kitchen and heading down the long hallway to the spare room that she would occasionally stay in if she was up at her parents late and couldn't be bothered going back home. She even kept a spare phone charger and some clothes there, and she got changed into a pair of sweatpants and a singlet before turning off the lights and climbing into bed.

She managed to lay in darkness for all of two minutes before she picked her phone back up from the bedside and typed in _Jace Herondale_.

There weren't many new entries from the past couple of days—a lot of the articles that came up were older, or they were centered on his parents, and he was just mentioned in passing. There was a reasonably recent one about a fashion show, and Clary tapped the screen to bring the article up.

Isabelle Lightwood.

 _Izzy_. Jace's _Izzy_.

The article was about a fashion show that had happened a few weeks ago, and Clary recognized one of the outfits, with the way her hair and make up was done—it was the same way she had looked in Jace's snapchat that he had sent her, saying that he had been dragged to one of his friends 'dress up parties'. Clary let out a snort of disbelief.

He was best friends with a super model.

Actually, if she remembered correctly, he was _cousins_ with a supermodel.

Of course, attractiveness and talent seemed to flow in his family. First his parents, and now his cousins.

Clary sighed as she scrolled down, and found another article, this one posted a few years ago, about Jace and Kaelie. She vaguely remembered it happening, but she wasn't all that interested in it at the time. There were photos and clips of both Kaelie and Jace, although the interview only had comments from Kaelie and people that she was friends with when it came to the aftermath of the Kaelie and Jace fall out. Jace's family and friends refused to make any comment about him to the media, although one of the cast members had let on that Jace had been sent off to some expensive, exclusive rehab centre, and that his parents lawyers had brought him out of his contract with _Idris High_ so that he wouldn't be required to return.

There were a few other mentions of him in other articles, but most of the newer posts were about him getting spotted out and about, his face obscured by a cap and sunglasses. The photo of him at the fashion show was the only recent one that she could find where his face was actually properly showing.

It felt weird—intrusive, and almost dirty—looking through these articles in these pictures, and Clary turned off her phone, rolling over so that her back was to it.

 **Um...My song recommendations for this week would be _Hitchhiker_ by Demi Lovato, _All You Need To Know_ by Gryffin featuring Calle Lehmann, _Rollercoaster_ by The Jonas Brothers and _All This Time_ by Drax Project, which has just officially been released. The studio version doesn't quite hold up to the live version, it's like there's too much synth and they tried to downplay how powerful the sax it's, which is the best part of the song. I've got this recording of when we saw them at smaller concert, at a club, and the whole atmosphere is fucking amazing when this song comes on, if we're friends on Facebook or Snapchat and you want a copy, let me know and I'll send it through :) But I still recommend the version that's out there on Youtube and Spotify.**

 **Moviewise... _John Wick 3_ was incredible, as expected. I bawled by eyes out in _Rocketman_ , but it was so, so good. I adore Taron Egerton and Richard Maddon, and they played their roles so well. I don't recommend the new Ted Bundy film, tbh. I was looking forward to it, I love Zac Efron and Lily Collins, and Ted Bundy is a fascinating study subject, but...I just felt like it glorified him so much, and it honestly made me feel a bit sick. TV shows I would recommend would be _Madam Secretary, Harlots_ and _High Seas_. Also, did anyone watch the first episode of _Euphoria_? It is absolutely fucking amazing. I bawled my eyes out and my heart hurt and there were parts that hit a little close to home, but shit, it's so fucking good. **

**Lyric of the week...' _My daddy put a gun to my head/Said if you kiss a boy, I'm gonna shoot you dead/So I tied him up with gaffa tape and I locked him in a shed/Then I went out to the garden and I fucked my best friend_ '...**


	21. Chapter 21

**Merp, I've kinda lost track of my updating schedule? *Throws updates and internet cookies***

Jace barely got any sleep.

He was awake long before sunrise, although he made himself stay in bed until six. Then he got up, got a pair of of running shoes out of his car and followed the drive way up to the road. It had been a long time since he had actually run on a road, or out in public in general, actually. The sun was only just coming up, but he had made sure to fit a cap on his head before he had started. He was pretty sure that he was safe, the vineyard was pretty isolated, and he hoped that if anyone drove past and saw him, they would just ignore him as an early morning jogger.

He ran for almost an hour, and was glad that he had stuck to the main road, or else he would never have been able to find his way back. When he reached Clary's house again, the front door was open, and so was one of the windows in the kitchen. He took a few moments outside to steady his breathing, taking off his cap and wiping at his sweaty face. He had definitely hoped to be in a better position when speaking with Clary than all hot and sweaty after running, but at least she was back.

"Morning," Jace began quietly as he stepped in the front door.

"Hi," Clary looked up from where she was whisking eggs in a bowl. She glanced him over before dropping her eyes back to her original task. "Uh, you can have a shower if you want. There's towels in the cupboard right across from the bathroom." Jace nodded, glad that she was giving him a moment to gather his thoughts before they spoke. He showered quickly, scrubbing his fingers through his shaggy hair before getting out and brushing his teeth. He changed into another set of clothes he had in his bag and then went back out to the kitchen. Clary had emptied the bowl of eggs into a frying pan and scrambled them, emptying them onto four slices of toast. "Here we go," she said, handing him one of the plates and taking one herself, settling down on one side of the table.

"Thanks," Jace gave her a nervous smile as he sat down opposite her. Bucky wandered into the kitchen, looking up at the two humans at the table before stopping at his bowl of food and burying his face inside of it.

"So..." Clary cut a corner off her toast and piled some scrambled eggs onto it, shoving it into her mouth. "I googled you last night." Jace had put a forkful of eggs into his mouth and almost choked on it at Clary's admission. Clary took in a breath as she tapped her fork against her plate. "It was weird. I mean...It felt like I was reading someones diary. I know that it's all public record, it's all been put online and TV and all that shit, but it felt wrong, you know?" Jace licked his lips but didn't answer.

In all honesty, he didn't really have an answer.

Because part of him felt as though she was wrong. He was completely and utterly used to having things splashed all over the internet and the TV and the magazines—and because he was so used to it. It was an _expectation_ when you were a celebrity, or you were the children of a multi-award winning couple, that you were going to be followed around and have every sordid detail that the press could get their hands on reported. That was just what life was like, what _his_ life was like, what everyone in his life was like.

But then on the other hand, he knew that there were thousands and thousands of people in the world who managed to keep their lives away from the eye, and the only photos that ended up online and in social media were the ones that their family and friends took, and it was never something that the _media_ was interested in. And there most definitely weren't pages and recordings from multiple people, weighing in on his choices when it came to relationships and break ups.

"So...You're Jace Herondale," Clary began, and he was impressed by how level her voice was, because her eyes definitely widened as she stated his full name. "And your cousins, pretty much the only people you ever spend time with...They're Isabelle and Alec Lightwood. As in, Isabelle, the model, and Alec, who I admittedly googled as well just because I haven't heard of him before, is some kind of indie director that everyone is getting all excited about." Clary pursed her lips, looking down at Bucky on the kitchen floor. Jace guessed that she was gathering her thoughts, and he let her, eating quietly even though he was so nervous he had no appetite. "You know..." Clary took in a breath. "I remember that _Idris High_ ended season two with a cliffhanger. There were a lot of unhappy girls about that in my high school."

"Oh really?" Jace said carefully, wondering if she was going with that.

"If the cheerleaders had known that one day I might be able to find out what happened between Mitch and Anita, maybe they would have been nicer to me," she continued, shooting him a tentative look. It seemed as though she was trying to lighten the mood, but wasn't too sure if he was picking up what she was putting down. Jace's lips twitched, and Clary looked as though she let out a breath that she was holding in, and a small smile crossed her face. "So?" She prompted.

"So...What?" Jace asked.

"What was meant to happen between Mitch and Anita?" Clary asked as she cut more toast and put it into her mouth. Mitch was the main character of _Idris High_ that Jace had played, and Anita had been played by Véronique Desmond. Season two had ended with the pair of them in a fight, Mitch loosing focus while driving and his car going off the edge of a cliff. Jace smirked and shook his head.

"They were going to go with the good ol' amnesia story line. Mitch get into an accident and then he was found a day later and he had suffered a really bad blow to the head. He was going to be in a coma for a couple of months and when he woke up, couldn't remember Anita or anyone," Jace shrugged a shoulder. "That show definitely wasn't getting any points for originality."

"Well, from what I remember, the main guy was pretty hot, so it was okay," Clary murmured with a small smile and Jace smiled back at her. They finished eating in quiet, crunching noises coming from Bucky on the ground eating from his bowl. When they finished Jace looked across at Clary, who pulled her legs up onto the chair and against her chest, resting her chin on her knees. Jace didn't want to interrupt her thoughts, so he just sat there quietly. Clary finally spoke, her voice quiet. "Why me? I mean...Why did you want to talk with me, and come out here?"

"It sounds cliche but...You're the most real person I've ever spoken to," Jace sighed. "I don't really know what else there is that I can say; it was just when you added me on Snapchat, and I saw the pictures that you were putting up, and you looked like you were having so much _fun_. You put up pictures of your cats and your friends, and none of you looked like you were trying to be someone that you're not. You, uh, you would send pictures where you're not wearing any make up, and you just...You looked really happy." Jace took in a deep breath and shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. It's just you looked happy for _you_ , not because you were trying to look that way for anyone else. And I wanted to share that with you. And...It also felt so good to just talk to someone who wasn't a part of the world that I had grown up in, and who had no idea who I was." Clary stared at him before letting out a soft laugh.

"You're right," she agreed. "It does sound cliche." Jace chewed on the corner of his lower lip, not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But Clary wasn't smiling at him in a snarky, or disbelieving way. She still looked a bit wary, but then she reached across the table to touch his arm. "You're still the same guy, and at least now I understand why you never have to leave your apartment, and your house in Malibu and the fancy car." She looked down at the ground, to where Bucky was now twining his way around the legs of the chair, and she reached down to pick him up. "Is there...Is there anything else that I should know?"

"Uh," Jace wasn't really too sure what she was referring to. There were a lot of things in his life that he had never really talked, but maybe that he would talk to Clary about at some point. "Maybe? There's probably going to be stuff that comes up that I should have told you earlier, but...I can't really think of any of it now."

"But you're not gonna hide it from me later, when it actually happens?" Clary prompted him.

"I won't, I promise," Jace told her, feeling as though a weight was lifted off his shoulders when she gave him a small smile. She glanced around and then at their empty bowls.

"Are you still hungry?" She asked.

"I could eat," Jace shrugged, although he mainly just wanted to change the subject.

"Come on. I'll show you the best bakery you've ever been to."

 **So songs I recommend are _I Think I'm OKAY_ by MGK, Yungblud and Travis Baker, which I absolutely adore, and the song and especially the music video give me intense early 2000's feels, and _Lost_ by Dermont Kennedy, which is so damn beautiful, I've completely fallen in love with it. Also _Lost Without You_ by Freya Ridlings, which was sent to me by _Reppinda5o3_ and is completely heart breaking. Umm...I can't really think of many movies and TV series I've been watching lately. Sorry :( **

**Okay, so, questions; what's your lockscreen/homescreen/blah blah blah? My lockscreen is Dominic Harrison and my homescreen is Demi Lovato, both total babes.**

 **Umm...What are you go-to feel good movies? Mine are—not in any type of order— _Princess Bride, The Swan Princess, Stardust, Spirit_ and _Frozen_. Lol. Not even sorry. I think _Catch and Release_ might be working its way onto this list as well. **

**...' _Please tell me I'm your one and only/Or lie and say at least tonight/I've got a brand new cure for lonely/And if you give me what I want/Then I'll give you what you like_ '...**

 **xxxxxxx**


	22. Chapter 22

**The next chapter for you beautiful people :)**

Almost a week went by.

And—surprisingly—it hadn't gone terribly.

There had been some awkwardness in the couple of days that had followed after she had found out who he was, but then she had tried to get past it. A couple of things came up that Clary obviously found just a little uncomfortable—like when Jace said that he didn't want to go all the way back to the Malibu house when she suggested that he just stay there, so he had one of the men who looked after the grounds drive the rest of his suitcases up. Or when he dropped his wallet when they went out for lunch at a cafe and a couple of hundred dollar bills had slipped out. Or when his mum—or the Oscar winning actress, as Clary knew her—called to check up on him.

Clary went into her work a couple of times, but they were only for a few hours, before she came back to him. She brought some of her work home, and would sit at the kitchen table, with her papers spread out across the wooden top, and Jace would try not to stare at her too much, and focus more on the TV that was playing, but he got distracted.

He liked watching her draw or paint, whatever medium she was using that day.

There hadn't been any more nights out with her friends, and he wasn't sure if that was because she just wanted to keep him all to herself or because she didn't want to put him in an awkward situation. In reality, it was probably more the latter, although he hoped that it was former.

Jace was still staying in the spare bedroom of her house, but they had fallen asleep together on two different nights, and while he definitely wanting there to be more kissing, he got that things had changed just a little bit. While they hadn't really known each other before, at least the first time that they had kissed, she had known a version of him. Then that had been completely flipped, and she was now adapting to another version.

"So," Clary began one evening after her and Jace had gotten back from walking through the vineyards, Jace still not used to having so much fresh air in his lungs. "There's this thing tonight."

"A thing?" Jace raised his eyebrows at her as they stopped at the steps of her porch and sat down. Bucky was getting more used to having him around, and he had stopped glaring at him as much, although he still didn't like coming near him. Instead, he flounced past on the railing of the porch above Jace's head, and then jumped down onto Clary's shoulder before sliding into her lap and curling up in a ball.

"Yeah, a thing," Clary stroked her fingers over Bucky's fur. "My mum and dad want us to come up for dinner." Jace's head jerked up in surprise at that and Clary let out a laugh. "It's not going to be scary or anything, don't worry," then she stopped and made a face. "At least, I don't think it's going to be scary. Dad hasn't really done the whole intimidating, scary, dad-talk shit since I was in high school, so I don't think he'll start any of that again with you." She let out a laugh and grinned. "Ooh, if he does threaten you with anything, maybe you should tell him that you know Jackie Chan, and he can come and whoop his ass if he does anything to you." Jace laughed and shook his head.

"Yeah, well, that could work, I guess, except I don't know Jackie Chan," he pointed out.

"Bruce Li?"

"Nope."

"Bruce Willis?"

"I met him at a premiere once, but I was nine."

"Well, this all seems pretty useless, then," Clary joked with a roll of her eyes. "Who's meant to keep you safe?"

"We have bodyguards for that kind of thing," Jace responded with a smile and Clary shrugged.

"That doesn't sound quite as fun, though, as having a kick ass action star coming to your rescue," she teased and Jace laughed. "Anyway, did you want to shower before we head up?" Jace looked down at himself and made a face. They had been walking in the vineyard for a couple of hours, and they had climbed a couple of the hills at the end of the fields as well, so he was a little sweaty and dirty.

"Yeah," Jace nodded. "I can be quick, so that you can go in afterwards." He really wanted to suggest they shower together, but he knew that wasn't something on the table at the moment.

"It's okay," Clary smirked at him, patting him on the shoulder as she got up, tipping Bucky carefully down onto the porch as she stood up. " _I'm_ not trying to impress my parents, _I_ don't need to look all pretty for them." Jace was blushing as she walked back into the house.

* * *

"Do you like the wine, Jace?" Jocelyn asked with a smile from one side of the table.

"Yes," Jace gave her a small smile. "It's lovely." Clary rolled her eyes at her plate of food at Jace's use of the word 'lovely'. He had been nervously on edge since they got to the house, and in all honesty, she couldn't really blame him. Luke hadn't said anything since they had shaken hands when they had first arrived, he was just sitting on the opposite side of the table, chewing and staring across at Jace.

"Clary created the logo," Jocelyn smiled as she turned the wine bottle around so that it was facing Jace. "It was when she was sixteen." Jace raised his eyebrows as he looked at the logo. It was only simple, but it looked professional, and it was surprising that it was done by someone so young. "Paid for her first year at University," Jocelyn was clearly proud.

" _Mum_ ," Clary whined, and Jace couldn't help but laugh, feeling a little relaxed for the first time that evening. Jocelyn just gave her a small smile before cutting off a slice of steak and then adding salad onto her fork before putting it into her mouth. Jace felt the tension in his shoulders starting to leave him as Clary gave him a small smile, and then Luke cleared his throat pointedly.

"So," he began, his voice strong and firm. "This thing that you've got going on with my daughter." Clary's eyes widened in surprise and even Jocelyn looked taken aback by the statement, although she didn't look as horrified as Clary. "I understand that you've got family, and a life back in New York. How are you planning on making this work between the pair of you?"

"Dad—"

"No, it's okay," Jace told Clary as she tried to speak up for him, undoubtedly to try and shift the attention. He was waiting for something like this to come up, he had been right from the start when he had first flown out here. Part of him had been hoping that he wasn't going to run into her parents, because he knew that it would be awkward and a bit uncomfortable, but given how close she was with both of them, he had guessed that it was inevitable. "We're still...Working things out. Taking it slow," he began, looking over at Clary, who looked a little surprised by his response, but she didn't look as though she disagreed. "And you're right, I do have family in New York, but I also have access to a home in Malibu whenever I want, so I can come down whenever I want—or whenever _Clary_ wants," he quickly added as the older man raised his eyebrows. Luke nodded and then glanced at his wife, who looked as though she was hiding her smile into her glass of wine. "This is something that I want to work, and I believe that we can."

"And what about a job?" He asked, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms over his chest, clearly set on getting some answers and not wanting his dinner as any type of distraction. "I know that money isn't a big deal for you, but that's not what I'm talking about," he waved a hand dismissively. "But sitting around and not doing anything isn't the sort of man that I want Clary to be with. What are your goals? Do you have any plans to get a higher education?"

"Dad," Clary said again, a warning tone in her voice, and Jocelyn glanced over at her before reaching out to lay her hand on Luke's arm. Luke's eyes flickered over to his wife, and maybe he was thinking about relenting, but Jace licked his lips and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

"I'm currently a silent partner in several restaurants," he told Luke earnestly, wanting Luke to see how serious he was. "I love cooking, being in the kitchen, and having a bigger role when we first started the restaurant didn't seem as though it would be a good idea, given it may attract the wrong attention. It's been a long time since I've had any..." ' _Scandals_ ' didn't seem like the best word to use when speaking to his potential future girlfriends father. "Since I've made any headlines in the tabloids. So Sebastian and I—that's my business partner—were thinking that maybe it was about time that I had a bigger role in the restaurants. I was also hoping so do a few more courses, maybe go back to Italy, do some more lessons at a cooking school there, perhaps Paris." He stopped talking at the wide eyed looks that Jocelyn and Clary were giving him, and he felt warmth flood to his cheeks at how off-handedly he was talking about taking trips to places that usually took months—sometimes years—of planning and saving for for the average person. "Uh," he cleared his throat and looked down at his food. "Yeah. So...There's that."

"I didn't realize that you had a couple of restaurants up your sleeve," Clary murmured, reaching over to squeeze Jace's arm lightly. "That explains why your cooking is orgasmic," she gave him a quick grin, although Jace felt his whole body tense up as he looked toward his parents at the mention of the word 'orgasmic'. Neither of her parents seemed to care, and astonishingly, Luke didn't look as uptight as he was before.

"Alright," Luke nodded slowly, and he reached forward to pick up his steak knife again, and Jace felt as though maybe he passed the examination. But then Luke pointed the steak knife at him and he felt his eyebrows lift nervously. "Whatever it is going on, between you two," he waved the knife between Jace and Clary. "With the distance, and _your_ name," he nodded back at Jace. "It's not going to be easy. Make sure you talk through what both of you want, because you need to make sure you're both on the same page." Clary's hand was still on Jace's arm, but it stilled at that last comment. Jace turned her head to the side to look at her, and he saw the nervousness on her face. He tried to soothe her with a smile, reaching under the table to rest a hand on her thigh and stroke his thumb over her knee.

 **Alright! Another mass update! I'm just...In a super shitty place right now, completely mental, my life is actually in a really good space—isn't it great when that happens? But writing is generally therapeutic so...Here we go.**

 **Movies I would recommend would be _Where The Heart Is_ , which is an old time favourite for me, and _How To Be Single_ , which I actually quite like, even though I don't like Dakota Johnson. It's like my love for Leslie Mann cancels that out though. Haha. I don't know...Both of these movies make me really sad and happy at the same time, so it's good.**

 **Songs that I've recently fallen in love with are _Perfectly Wrong_ by Shawn Mendes, _Chateau_ by Angus & Julia Stone, _You Make It Easy_ by Jason Aldean and _Marry Me_ by Thomas Rhett. Recommend any songs that you guys have had on repeat recently :)**

 **Hope you're all doing well, and please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter because I love your comments x**


	23. Chapter 23

**Okay, this is gonna be another one of these months you get two updates in month, so...*throws internet cookies***

"So, you're a partner in some restaurants?" Clary asked quietly as they walked down the driveway toward her house from her parents one. It was dark, but there were a couple of glowing lights that were spotted along the sides of the path, giving them a bit of light, and Clary had the flashlight on her phone turned on, pointing ahead of them.

"Yeah," Jace nodded. "I just...I mean, I was going to tell you at some point, it's just I kind of wanted to break everything to you sort of slowly...You only just found out about my parents and everything, and I just didn't want to dump it all on you at once." Clary let out a short laugh, and when he glanced over at her, she shook her head at him.

"It's okay," she said, and he caught a flash of a small smile on her face. "I can understand that." He was about to respond, maybe thank her for being so understanding, but then she reached out with the hand that wasn't holding her phone and lighting their way, and tucked it into his. Jace was happy just to walk in quiet then. Clary didn't let go of his hand until they got to the steps outside her house, and she jogged up to the deck in front of him. Bucky was fast asleep on the swing seat, and barely lifted his head to look at them as they walked past. There were slithers of light coming into the cottage, through the gaps in the curtains and the blinds above the kitchen sink, and Jace was about to reach out his hand to feel for the light switch when Clary moved, and she was standing directly in front of Jace. "Did you mean what you said?"

"What?" Jace breathed out in response as she laid a hand on his chest, warm through the thin shirt he was wearing, her feet shuffling forward so that their thighs were pressed together.

"You said to my dad, to Luke...That _this_ was something that you wanted to work," Clary continued, her voice softer, and just a little bit raspy. He really wished that the light was on, so that he could see her face, so that he could look into those gorgeous green eyes of hers, but there was no way that he was going to risk breaking this moment. "If it was just something you were saying because you felt awkward and trapped with my dad, that's okay, I'm not going to hold it against you. But, if you were telling the truth..."

"I was _definitely_ telling the truth," Jace said, feeling his breathing catching in his throat as he felt her hand slide up from his chest to cup around his neck. She reached up on her tiptoes and their lips came together and it was so soft and so sweet that Jace's heart ached in his chest. He circled his arms around her back, one of them falling to her waist to hold her tight against his body, the other banding across her back. Her hair felt so smooth and soft as it ran through his fingers, and he twined his fingers through the strands that reached toward the bottom of her back.

Everything about her was soft.

It was soft and _real_.

Jace didn't want to be thinking about the other girls that he had been with now that he was with _Clary_ —the beautiful, smiling, down to earth Clary—but he couldn't help the few comparisons that ran through his head. The way that her breasts were quite small, less than a handful he was guessing, although that was _all_ guessing. They weren't _fake_. The way her hair didn't have a straw-like feel to it. It wasn't _fake_. The little noises that she was making, they were muted and they weren't for show. They were about _her_ , they weren't for _him_.

Jace wasn't sure who took things to the next point, but then his tongue was in her mouth, and Clary was trying to reach higher, even though her petite figure didn't allow her to straighten up much further. Her lips tasted like the wine that they had been drinking, and her tongue was insistent, demanding more attention from him, and he was happy to give her everything he had. Jace could feel himself getting harder in the jeans he was wearing, but he was more than happy to ignore it, as long as she kept on kissing him. It continued, the kisses getting sloppier and their breathing getting heavier through their noses until they had to part so that they could fill their lungs.

"You have..." Jace pulled back from her, bumping his nose against hers, his lower lip catching on her upper one as he drew in a deep breath. Clary's breathing was heavy as well. Jace's hands moved, gripping the sides of her face, wishing that they had actually turned on a light so that he could see every single detail. But because they hadn't, all he was catching was glimpses of her green eyes glinting in the moonlight, and the outline of her nose and the corner of her mouth. "You have absolutely _no idea_ how long I've wanted this," Jace told her, not caring if he sounded sappy and over-emotional. "You are...You are one of the _best_ things in my life. I know that—I know that this might seem too soon, and please tell me if I'm going to fast here, it's just that...It's just the pictures and the messages we've been sending, they mean _so much_ to me—more than you'll ever know."

"It's..." Clary began before she broke off and tried to drop her head, but Jace's hold on her face stopped her from hiding her face. The red head swallowed hard, and Jace could see her scanning his face, biting down on her bottom lip, the light slipping through the slates in the kitchen window catching her teeth as they nibble at the lips he wanted to bruise with his own. "It's not too soon," she managed to say before Jace was kissing her again.

He picked her up, and Clary let out a surprised laugh against his mouth, pulling away from him for a moment as she readjusted herself, wiggling around in his arms, tightening her legs around his torso, and wrapping her arms around his neck. Then they were kissing again, and stumbling down the hallway toward her room.

Jace wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it was even better.

He almost tripped over when they reached her room, because she had some shoes scattered on the ground, and Clary laughed when he tipped off balance. They got to the bed, and he gently put her down, planning on climbing on top of her, but she grabbed his arms and jerked him down next to her before crawling up his body.

Their clothes came off as they tried to keep on kissing, both of them laughing when Clary's shirt got tangled coming off over her head and they had to try and get it untangled in the dark, and then they struggled with their pants and finally managed to fall together, their skin finally touching. Jace would have been embarrassed about the soft moan he let out if Clary hadn't made a similar noise. They kissed, and Jace moved his back backwards so that he was resting against the pillows and slightly propped up. Clary was wet, he could feel it as she began grinding herself down on him, and Jace cupped her breasts, absolutely _living_ for the way that Clary whimpered and her whole body shook as he stroked down the soft sides with his thumbs.

"Shit," Clary sighed, wiggling around on top of him, making Jace moan as the wet pressure from her pussy pressed down on his hard cock. He thrust his hips upward to meet her and Clary let out another moan, dropping her head so that it was resting against his shoulder. "Do that again," she mumbled, her breath hot against his ear. Jace moved his hands, down to her hips, holding them firmly in place as he shifted his hips upward, rubbing hard against her, making Clry groan and shake. He caught one particular spot that made her let out a squeak, and Jace paused, before doing it again, undulating over the same spot that he knew must be her clit. "Mmph...Oh fuck," Clary hiccuped as the head of his cock caught the sensitive nerves over and over again, before Jace felt a gush of moisture and Clary let out another loud moan, her body shaking harder as she fell down on top of him.

Jace didn't care if he didn't get off, if this was it, stroking his hand up and down Clary's back, his fingers feeling the goosebumps that were rising over her skin.

But after her breathing evened out, Clary lifted herself up onto her knees, fumbling around in the bedside table for a moment before pulling out something that made a metallic crinkling noise. Jace sucked in a sharp breath as her fingers smoothed the condom down on either side of his cock, and his body jerked under her touch. Clary reached up, resting her hands on his shoulders and pressing her mouth back to his again.

The kiss was only a brief brush of their lips and then her mouth slipped away as she shuffled around, moving her hips from side to side as she maneuvered herself over Jace, and they both let out raspy sighs of relief as she finally slid downwards, Jace's cock burying deep inside of her.

" _Shit_ ," Clary sighed, a shiver shooting up her spine, her fingers reflexively curling into the muscle of his shoulders. Jace had to take in a few deep breaths to control himself, because this— _this_ was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. This was a woman who knew him, the real him, and who appreciated him for who he was, absolutely no strings attached. It was almost overwhelming just how incredible she felt, and Jace had to grip her hips and force his eyes open to anchor himself. "You feel so good," Clary told him, her eyes shiny and bright.

"Fuck yes," Jace gasped back as she began to move. Jace assisted her movement, rocking her hips back and forth with his hands, and Clary's body was shaking as she moved. Her breathing became more shallow and rapid, and as she jerked her body faster, she collapsed on him, her face in his neck, panting against his skin.

The room was filled with their heavy breathing, the slick sound of their bodies coming together and the occasional swear word being gasped out. Jace could feel as Clary got closer to another orgasm, and he was glad, because he wasn't going to be able to hold himself off much longer. Clary's thighs were shaking and her breathing got harsher and her pussy was like a vice around his cock.

"Jace—" Clary choked out before her body convulsed, impossibly tight around him. Jace took over from there, thrusting up into her a half dozen more times, before he was joining her in euphoria, and they were slumped against each other, catching their breath.

 **I watched the movie _It's Kind of a Funny Story_ for the first time, I've been meaning to watch it for years, but I just never had. I'm really glad I did, so I definitely recommend it. It's got Zach Galifianakis, Viola Davis and Emma Roberts and it's just a really really good. Sort of similar to _Perks of Being a Wallflower_ , although nowhere near as good since that's my favourite movie of all time. Haha. Also as I'm writing this, we're watching _Big Hero 6_ and I just adore this movie so much. They're all just amazing, and Tadashi is just...The most beautiful person in the world. Oh, and the other day I watched _Need For Speed_ again, which is just a mindlessly car racing movie, but I love Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots and so it's great. Haha.**

 **For TV shows, I've recently started _The Bold Type_ , and I'm completely in love, the three main girls are adorable, I don't know which one is my favourite so far. None? All? All, I think. And I absolutely love Alex. And Jacqueline is a fucking goddess. Honestly, the show just makes me so happy. Also _Crashing_ , which was fucking hilarious. Some of the lines in it were really cruel, actually, which kind of cut for a comedy show. I absolutely fucking LOVED Melody and Colin and Sam. Particularly Melody. Also, _Derry Girls_ , I've recommended it before, I'll do it again. Haha. My husband and I have watched it sooooooo many times, it's generally our go-to when stoned. Haha.**

 **Okay, so songs... Uh, some old ones I've been listening to— _Forever_ and _Sex Metal Barbie_ by In This Moment, um, also _Blood_ and _Adrenalize_. Slow _Fade_ by Ruth B, which is beautiful, _Cringe_ by Matt Maeson and the acoustic version is even better. _None Of My Business_ by Cher Lloyd and _Takeaway_ by The Chainsmokers and then _Hope For The Underrated Youth_ by Yungblud, which I bawled my eyes out over the first few times I listened to it.**

 **Okay; questions...Anyone into _Veronica Mars_? Anyone been into Veronica Mars since they were a child? Oh my god. I was so fucking disappointed by the reboot. Like, my entire heart dropped. I only got two episodes in, and I wasn't really enjoying it, I just felt like Veronica wasn't characterized well, she had actually regressed, and then I read the ending, and I just refused to go on. So...That's disappointment dating back to my primary school days.**

 **Umm...Favourite song right now? Mine is _hammer_ by nothing,nowhere.**

 **And how many tattoos do you have? I've just gotten my second one, and I think I'm getting a third in November, and then I've got plans for, like, four others.**

 **Anyway, drop a review, they make my day :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey, guys! Just a quick heads up that I'm not sure if there will be two updates for every story next month, like there has been for the past couple months, we'll just see how it goes. Working a lot at the moment and my husband and I are doing renovations on our home and just general busy life stuff, so don't have a lot of free time right now x**

"Okay," Clary looked up at Jace when she heard a car park up outside her house. "So, I just want to make sure you go into this, like, fully warned." Jace raised an eyebrow as he looked down, to where Clary was laying on the couch, her head resting on Jace's lap as they watched TV. "Game night can get...Well, it can get a little competitive."

"Okay?" From what she was saying, Jace was guessing that there was something a bit more than friendly competition from the way that Clary was talking.

"As in...Lydia has thrown a dice in Simon's eye before, and we had to take him to the emergency room, and Helen ended up having to sleep on the couch for a week after she and Aline were on opposing sides of Articulate," Clary made a face and then let out a laugh when she saw the slightly worried expression on Jace's face. "Don't worry, I'll protect you if Lydia starts going crazy with the dice again."

"I appreciate that," Jace still looked a little scared.

"It's okay," Clary continued, laughing again. "I think we're probably going to stick to Cards Against Humanity tonight." Jace nodded. "Alright, so—"

"Hey, babes!" Lydia shouted out as she opened the front door.

"Everyone stop having sex and please put on your clothes!" Maia Roberts called out from behind Lydia and Clary rolled her eyes as she got up from where she was resting. Lydia went into the kitchen while Maia came into the lounge, one hand dramatically over her eyes as the other hand reached out and felt around to make sure she wasn't going to bump into anything.

"Oh, get over it," Clary huffed out a laugh. "We're fully clothed." Maia uncovered her face and grinned.

"Can never be too careful," she said with a shrug. She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. "Or maybe...Maybe _hopeful_ would be the better word," her eyes skimmed playfully over Jace and while usually he would absolutely hate it when woman looked at him like that, but it was clearly all in good humour. "Hi, I'm Maia, we haven't met yet," she reached out her hand and Jace got up from his seat on the couch and took it.

"I'm Jace," he replied as he shook her head.

"Ooh, I know," she wiggled her eyebrows at him. "You've been all the talk recently." The smile dropped off Jace's face and Maia seemed to realize that the comment had made him nervous. " _Not_ with the town or anything, just in our group of friends," she gave him a comforting smile. "Don't worry, we're not going to say anything to anyone else." Jace relaxed slightly, but there was still some tension in his shoulders.

"Hey!" Came another shout, and this time it was Simon who came in, with Jordan behind him. Jace felt an irrational twinge of jealousy when he saw Jordan, knowing it was someone that Clary had slept with before. It hadn't happened the first time that he had meet Jordan, because he had been too on edge about meeting Clary's friends for the first time, and worrying that people would recognize him. But now, he was a bit more relaxed, but nowhere near as relaxed as Jordan was, with the way he gave Clary a quick kiss on the cheek and then slouched against the door frame of the kitchen, as though he was here all the time and completely comfortable.

"Alright," Clary clapped her hands together. "I'm thinking, food first—"

"Fuck yes!" Simon pumped a fist in the air.

"And then Cards Against Humanity?" Clary suggested.

"Sounds perfect to me," Lydia came over to where Clary was standing and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Now, why don't you run along and be a good house guest and get food ready while I speak with your boo over here." Jace lifted an eyebrow as Maia laughed at the slightly concerned expression on Clary's face.

"It's fine," Jace assured her as Lydia patted Clary on the shoulder and moved over to sit down on the couch beside Jace. The front door opened again and Aline and Helen came in, calling out their hello's before going into the kitchen. Jace couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed with everyone in the small house, but it was in a good way. They were all smiling, and the warmth between the friends pulsed in the air, and he felt lucky to be a part of that. Jordan went into the kitchen with Clary, and Jace couldn't help but glance over his shoulder toward the kitchen, and Lydia grinned as she came over to sit down on the couch next to him.

"It's okay," she said in a low voice, a knowing grin on her face. "They're just friends."

"What? Yeah—that's fine. I know that," Jace winced at the way he stumbled over his words. He had been an _actor_ , for crying out loud, he should be able to cover up a little bit better than this.

"Sure you do," Lydia grinned as she leaned back against the cushions of the couch and crossed one leg over the other. "So, Jace Herondale, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your mum!"

"Ooh, I second that!" Aline cried from the kitchen, and there was a flurry of footsteps before the other girl came into the lounge. "Tell me about your mum! Like, shit, I'm completely in love with her." Jace's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. "I know, I know, that probably sounds completely psycho-fangirl-stalker, and you probably hear that a lot so I'll reign it in once this stops being so completely cool—" there was a snort from behind them, and Jace glanced backwards again toward the adjoining kitchen and saw Clary smirking at them. "—It's just, this is..." Aline let out a dramatic sigh. " _So completely cool_."

"Do you know Sebastian Stan? Or Tyler Posey?" Lydia demanded, and Jace had to twist his head back to look at the blonde.

"Ooh, what about The Rock?" Jordan asked, coming into the lounge, and there was a friendly smile on his face which made Jace feel bad about wishing that he tripped over his feet and broke his nose when he had come into the room.

"Aren't you friends with that model?" Helen asked.

"Which one?" Simon asked as he came in and sat down on the floor beside the armchair that Aline had fallen into.

"Isabelle Lightwood," Helen replied.

"She's actually my cousin," Jace said, beginning a little hesitantly, because he had been so, so careful with his personal life for so long. But Clary trusted these people, they were her best friends, and he trusted her. If she thought that they were going to make any trouble and leak anything, he trusted that she would have given him a heads up. "Her and Alexander Lightwood, the movie director."

"Oh yeah, I think I've seen one of his," Jordan nodded, looking genuinely interested in what he had to say. "Kinda does shorter films, right? There was one about a football player coming out as gay?"

"Yup," Jace flashed a smile. He and Isabelle had been so incredibly proud of it. It had been the first movie that Alec had ever directed, and the night of it's premiere, he had officially come out as gay to the public. He had told Isabelle and Jace years ago, and then his family and other close friends when he was seventeen. But it was still a hard thing for him to come out to the public, open himself up to the judgement that came with it.

"Ohhhh, _her_ ," Simon had been looking up photos of Isabelle Lightwood online, trying to figure out who they were talking about. "Yeah, she did that perfume ad or whatever?" There was an appreciative look on his face that Jace was used to seeing on peoples faces when his cousin was mentioned.

"Alright!" Clary called from the kitchen. "That's enough!" It didn't look as though her friends were even _nearly_ done with their questions. Jace wouldn't have minded too much if they had kept on going, he was used to it, but he would prefer not to. He liked the way that Clary treated him, as though he was exactly the same as her. "The pizza's and garlic bread is on, who's gonna deal out the cards?" That seemed to be enough to prompt people into action. Everyone began moving, Jordan and Simon pulled out the coffee table so it was near the middle of the room, and Aline and Helen grabbed mismatched wine glasses from the kitchen and brought them into the lounge.

"You want beer?" Maia asked as she brought two bottles of wine into the lounge. "Simon and Jordan make sure to keep us all stocked up." A cheer went up from Jordan and he slapped a high five to his bespectacled friends hand, laughs going up from the girls.

"Uh, yeah," Jace flashed Maia a smile as she put down the wine bottles on the table and went back to the adjoining kitchen. She opened up the fridge and got out a few bottles of beer. She snapped off the lids and tossed them onto the bench with the frozen pizza box rubbish and brought the three back into the kitchen, passing them out to the boys.

"Alright, we want to do first to ten?" Helen asked as everyone got comfortable. Jace raised his eyebrows as he realized that everyone had moved onto the ground, Clary holding wine glasses up to Maia as the curly haired girl filled them, before passing them out to the girls. He slid off the couch, onto the ground between Clary and Aline.

"As if we'll even make it to ten," Maia snorted. The way they were all moving around each other was as if they were all completely aware of each others space, like they were all in touch with each other. Jace guessed it came with being such close friends for so long—he knew a lot of them had all been friends since they were in high school. "There'll be some kind of fight that breaks out, just like it always does." An easy laugh came from the group of friends, and Jace had a small smile on his face, the infectious happiness from the group all rolling over him.

Jace had only played Cards Against Humanity a couple of times, and he liked the game, but he had never played it with people who had as much enthusiasm as Clary's friends.

They were loud, over the top, shouting with laughter and frequently getting into arguments when the winners of each round was announced. Jace didn't do very well, because cards going down had to be tailored to the humour of the dealer, and he didn't know her friends, but that didn't matter. He just enjoyed being apart of the whole mess.

It turned out that Maia's favourite card was 'Harry Potter erotica' and Jordan's was 'a tiny horse'.

Lydia really couldn't hold her liquor, and was slurring her words after her second glass of wine.

Simon and Maia _definitely_ had a thing for each other.

Clary and Aline seemed like they were the most comfortable with each other, always leaning on each other and their legs all tangled together.

Jordan was actually really funny, and Jace liked him, despite his reservations.

They were all a good bunch, and they all made sure that Jace felt involved, and even though there some inside jokes that he just didn't get and sometimes he couldn't keep up with the way the conversations were completely tangled up in anecdotes, but he didn't mind. He was pleasantly buzzed, and the pizza and garlic bread had been good, and he was sitting next to the most beautiful girl he had ever met.

It was late before they left, nearly two in the morning, and the lounge and kitchen were all messy. Clary didn't seem at all bothered, and she took his hand, laughing and pink cheeked as she lead him to her bedroom.

 **Songs that I recommend are _Die A Little_ by Yungblud, _Teeth_ by 5SOS, _Love Myself_ by Olivia O'Brien and _Middle Finger_ by Bohnes, all of which have just been on repeat for the past week or so. Also, my husband is completely obsessed with _Motivation_ by Normani and _Slide Away_ by Miley Cyrus, so I've been hearing those a lot recently as well. Lol.**

 **I've been fighting this cold/flu/virus things for moooonths now, and I took a day off work coz it hit hard and I was feeling sorry for myself and I just spent it watching fluffy movies that make me happy. Haha. _Footloose_ , the original one, of course, even though I don't mind the new one. _A Cinderella Story, Ever After, Raise Your Voice, Centre Stage: Turn It Up, What A Girl Wants, The Prince & Me, 13 Going On 30 _and _High School Musical_ so those are my recommendations!**

 **Okay, so questions—how many of you guys are planning on getting Disney+? Haha. It's just been announced that it _will_ be getting released in New Zealand, which we were worried it wouldn't be because so many streaming services aren't. But it's gonna be here in November and me and my partner are _psyched_! Haha.**

 **Is everyone else heartbroken about the Sony/Marvel breakdown? Honestly, my heart goes out to Tom Holland the most, because he has done such an incredible job. There's always going to be a special place in my heart for the OG Spiderman, but there's just something about Tom's version, he was fucking amazing and had so much heart, and I'm just _so upset_ that there isn't going to be more of him in this verse. He seemed so heart broken at D23. Poor baby :(**

 **Last one! Anyone watch performances at the VMAs? I honestly kind of think the VMAs/Oscars/The Golden Globes yadda yadda yadda are pretty bullshit, pretty biased, so I don't pay too much attention to the nominations and the winners, but I live for the outfits and the, like, two or three performances from artists I like. Lizzo and Missy Elliott were fucking _amazing_ , and I screamed when Alyson Stoner came out on stage. Miley Cyrus' performance was totally heart breaking, so fucking good. And Halsey and Jonathan Van Ness were my stand out outfits! Oh also—Joe and Nick Jonas and Sophie Turner's reactions to Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes not kissing in their set was fucking hilarious. Let's face it, I think anything involving Sophie is hilarious—did you guys see her pasta related Instagram story? Ahahahaha. She's amazing.**

 **Drop a review, let me know what you think, love you lots x**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey, guys! Before getting into it, I want to recommend some of my favourite songs as of late... _Undrunk_ by Fletcher. _Dance Monkey_ by Tones and I. And then of course _Kill My Mind_ by the beautiful Louis Tomlinson and _Lights Up_ by the just as beautiful Harry Styles, although the _Lights Up_ music video was an experience and a half, especially while high. _Pretending_ and _Honest_ by Mali Koa are just beautiful. Then _Promise Me_ by Badflowers, which...Made my heart hurt when I heard the song, and then when I watched the video, I cried for the next hour. Yeah. I just wanted to share some happy things, since my note down the end isn't as happy, I guess. Anyway. On with the story x**

Clary got up before nine the next morning. Usually she would sleep in longer on Sunday mornings, especially just after her friends had been over late the night before and she had had a few wines, but she felt wide awake and invigorated. She slipped out of bed, completely naked after her and Jace's late night roll in the sheets, and she skipped past putting on a bra, picking out a pair of pink and grey underwear from her top drawer and one of her loose singlets and leaving a sleeping and also very naked Jace behind. Her body ached a bit, but it was in the best possible way. She couldn't remember the last time she had had sex more than once in a night, but Jace and her had kept on going until the early hours of the morning—Clary vaguely remembered seeing the time three-twenty on her phone when she used the light to find another condom, but they had still gone another round after that.

Her thighs burned a little—she had lost track of how long she was riding him, slow and heavy, before picking up the pace and going faster, drawing out both of their orgasms. She was also pretty sure she had some beard rash between her legs from where he had been eating her, and there were hickeys dotting her neck as well.

Clary was starting to feel flushed all over again, just remembering last night, but she didn't push the thoughts away, because she was smiling like an idiot and enjoying every minute that she had with him. She shifted her thoughts to something a little more PG so that she didn't wet right through the pair of underwear that she had pulled on. She filled the jug with water and flicked it on, before opening up the two little windows just above the sink and let in the morning air. It was sunny and the air smelt amazing and Bucky jumped up from where he must have been sleeping on the porch outside, padding in through the window and brushing up against Clary's arm as she waited for the water to finish boiling.

She made herself a green tea and carried it into the spare room that had the best view from her little cottage. Most people wanted the room with the best view to be their bedroom, but Clary had converted it into her art room, and she absolutely loved opening up the two huge windows that overlooked the vineyards and the mountains in the background.

It always made her feel inspired.

She was up to date with all of her illustrations—she'd been ridiculously motivated to do as much as she could when she found out that Jace was going to be coming down, and she didn't want to have to work all that much when he was here.

So now, she could just let herself paint whatever it was she wanted.

It wasn't surprising that it was colours of gold, like Jace's hair, and red, the traditional colour of love, that were the paints she started pulling out of the box that held all her expensive oil paints. Clary got lost in her painting, the sun rising in the sky outside her cottage, the warm rays filling the room and making her bare skin glow. Days could have passed and Clary wouldn't have noticed, given how absorbed she was in her painting. She vaguely processed Bucky coming into the room and rubbing up against her leg, but other than that she was lost in her painting and her thoughts.

The whole thing still felt unreal, even though Jace had been there almost a full week, and they had better sex than she'd ever had before.

She had definitely had a thing for him before she had even met him, and now that he was in her house, in her _bed_ , she knew that she had fallen hard.

But he was _Jace Herondale_.

He was the son of two of the biggest names in Hollywood.

She had gone to see ones of his movies at the cinema with Simon when she was nine.

And he was _here_.

And he wanted _her_.

The whole thing...It just didn't seem real.

When she finally snapped out of her reverie, she had a look at the time on her phone, which she had put down on the window sill, and saw that it was almost eleven. Clary smiled as she pulled up the snapchat app and took a photo of the bright, sunny day outside and sent it to Jace, with the caption ' _Now you know how beautiful it is_ '. She was surprised that he wasn't awake yet, given usually he was awake and going for a run before she even thought about getting out of bed. She didn't get any response, but that was fine, she was happy with letting him sleep.

Clary painted for a bit more, before Bucky started meowing and twining around her legs, purring and rubbing his nose against the top of her foot.

"Are you hungry, baby?" Clary murmured as she looked down at the grey cat. "You want food?" Bucky meowed again and Clary put her paintbrush into the jars she kept them in and walked out into the lounge, carrying her empty mug with her. She filled Bucky's tray with water and cat biscuits and then made herself another cup of tea. Her body felt good, calm and just a little bit achy, and when she caught a glimpse of herself in a small mirror that she had propped in the kitchen, where she did her make up when she was in a rush. There was some chafing on her chin and cheeks from Jace's scruff, her lips still looked a little bruised and swollen and their was a hickey on the left side of her neck.

Clary smiled at her reflection and dropped her eyes to the mug in front of her.

She was happy with her life, she had always considered herself lucky with her life and the people in it. She had incredible friends, who knew her well and who had been there for her for years and that she had so many memories with. She had an amazing family, who supported her and loved her with all their heart. She had a job that she loved and she lived somewhere she loved.

And now she had Jace.

She didn't know what their relationship was going to be like, and she knew that whatever it was was going to be hard, given his background and the distance between their two homes, but she still wanted it to work—and she believed that he wanted it to work as well.

Clary leaned down and scratched Bucky behind the ears when her phone started ringing, vibrating on the bench before she reached over and snatched it up. Jocelyn's smiling face was on her phone and Clary swiped her finger over the screen to answer the call and lifted it to her ear. She pushed herself off the ground so that was sitting on the bench, bumping her heels against the cupboards.

"Hey, mum," she greeted Jocelyn.

"Hey, baby," Jocelyn replied, her voice a little muffled. Clary could picture her now, in her office up at the house, with a pen stuck in her mouth as she flipped through the mess of paperwork that she always had piled high on her desk. She didn't have any type of order that could be seen by anyone else—Clary had gotten lost looking through the files multiple times before—but somehow Jocelyn made it work. "I just had someone call by the house looking for you, so I've sent them down."

"Someone? Who?" Clary was confused, because Jocelyn knew pretty much everyone that Clary did. She had been friends with the same people for years, and they were treated like family whenever they were in the area and came by the house.

"I'm not sure, honey," Jocelyn continued, and there was a muffled _clack_ as Clary guessed she pulled the pen out from between her teeth. "I didn't recognize her. She looked all dolled up, a lot of make up and some expensive looking clothes—I don't think she's from around here. Maybe one of your college friends?" Clary pursed her lips and shrugged a shoulder as she thought back if she had had any contact with the girls she had met at college, and if they had mentioned that they were coming by.

"Alright, that's cool," Clary replied. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, baby," Jocelyn said off-handedly before the call was disconnected. Clary slid off the edge of the bench and walked to her front door, two of the barn cats lazing out on the porch outside. She couldn't see any car coming toward her, but if it was someone who didn't know the driveway and was going slow, then that was normal. She tilted her head to the side as she waited, and a moment later, a Mercedes Benz appeared, inching it's way down the dusty and slightly uneven driveway.

"Who the hell are you?" Clary murmured to herself as she turned on her heel and quickly walked back into the house. She went to her bedroom and glanced at Jace, who was still fast asleep, snoring softly with his arms tucked underneath the pillow, holding it loosely. He was the absolute perfect picture of relaxed, and the sheet and fallen down so that it was showing off a glimpse of his toned ass, and she really wanted to climb in bed next to him, except there was some person that she didn't recognize, pulling up outside her house.

Clary pulled on a pair of denim shorts, and found a neon pink bra to quickly slip on underneath the practically see-through singlet she was wearing before walking back down the hallway to the front door. The Benz was just coming to a stop, directly in front of the porch. The windows were tinted, so Clary had absolutely no idea who it was inside. She didn't know any who drove a Benz, or any other car as expensive, except for Jace. As far as she knew, none of her friends from University were in the area, and she didn't think any of them had done well enough off financially that they could just blow it on a car like that.

Clary stayed on the porch as the engine of the car turned off and a moment later, the door opened, a long, thin leg in very unpractical high heeled sandals slid out of the car. The redheads frown deepened as a tall woman got out of the car, wearing a tiny sundress that Clary would never be brave enough to wear, given it had no back, and was only being held up by a couple of skinny straps around her neck. She had multiple rings on her fingers, heavy bracelets on each of her wrists and her hair was dead straight, falling down her back and swaying with every step that she took to get closer to Clary.

"Hi," she lifted her voice to be heard as she reached the bottom of the porch stairs and her face broke out in a wide smile. "I'm Isabelle."

 **Alright, so, obviously I didn't update last month. My bad. I'm in a pretty shitty spot, to be honest, mentally and physically and I've just got a lot going on right now. I'm still dealing with the abrupt loss of a family member and the fall out of that on my family and recently my husband has had a colleague take his life, which has brought up a lot for him. We're going to be okay, we're dealing with things, but I just need to take a breath right now. When I am in front of my computer and I'm actually focused enough to write, I'm not sticking to the schedules that I had before and I'm just writing what I really feel like which unfortunately hasn't been these stories. So I'm just...Gonna take a step back for a bit.**

 **You guys are all beautiful, and I'll be back soon, I just need a bit of a breather to re-centre myself.**

 **Since updating last, it has been World Coming Out Day and World Mental Health Day and I just wanted to say to anyone dealing with mental health issues and anyone in the LGBTQ+ community, whether you are out and loud or still processing things internally, you are all beautiful and deserve love and kindness. Just because I'm going to be away for a little bit, doesn't mean I'm unreachable, feel free to message me on my socials or on here if anyone ever wants to just chat, even if it's just about movies or songs, we all need to look after ourselves first, and then one another.**

 **Much love xx**

 **Tumblr: SereneCalamity**  
 **Twitter: CalamitySerene**


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